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Four ways One Health helps in ranking food safety risks
Food safety is critical to global health, impacting the well-being of humans, animals, and ecosystems. Foodborne illnesses and contamination present significant risks, leading to over 600 million cases of foodborne diseases annually. Ranking food safety risks helps prioritize these challenges and allocate resources effectively to prevent outbreaks and safeguard public health. A One Health approach, which connects human, animal, and environmental health, offers a comprehensive framework to tackle food safety challenges holistically.
Understanding food safety risks
Food safety risks arise from multiple sources, such as biological hazards (bacteria, viruses, parasites), chemical hazards (veterinary drugs, pesticides, heavy metals, food additives), and physical hazards (foreign objects in food). Common biological hazards include Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli, which can result in serious illnesses. Chemical hazards, like pesticide residues or mycotoxins, may accumulate in food due to poor agricultural practices or environmental pollution. Ranking these risks is essential to identifying the most pressing food safety concerns. Several factors influence how food safety risks are ranked, including the severity of health impact and frequency of occurrence.
The role of a One Health approach
A One Health approach recognizes the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health in addressing food safety risks. This approach offers several advantages in ranking and mitigating food safety threats.
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1. Integrated surveillance
One of the key elements of a One Health approach is integrating surveillance for food safety risks with measures of disease in humans and animals. Foodborne pathogens often originate in human, animals or the environment before entering the human food chain. By monitoring diseases in livestock, wildlife, and ecosystems, authorities can detect potential outbreaks before they affect human populations. For example, zoonotic diseases like Hepatitis E virus or Salmonella can be traced from animal populations to the human food supply.
An integrated surveillance system can identify common threats across sectors, allowing governments to allocate resources to the most urgent food safety risks. For instance, outbreaks of E. coli linked to contaminated produce or meat can be traced back to the farm level, where better agricultural, hygiene and monitoring practices can prevent further contamination.
2. Risk assessment and data sharing
A One Health approach encourages collaboration between various stakeholders - governments, international organizations, private sectors, and civil society - leading to better data sharing and risk assessment. This multi-sectoral collaboration enhances the ability to rank food safety risks based on comprehensive data sets that consider animal health, environmental conditions, and food production practices.
For example, risk assessment frameworks are vital tools for identifying high-priority risks and ensuring food safety standards are maintained globally. By incorporating One Health principles, these frameworks can used by risk managers, such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission to address risks arising from microbial hazards, for example the presence antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in food, the environment and in human and animal populations.
3. Prevention and control measures
A One Health approach promotes preventive measures across sectors to control food safety risks at all steps from production to consumption. For instance, improving hygiene in animal husbandry can reduce the prevalence of zoonotic pathogens. Similarly, better waste management practices can limit the spread of contaminants in water sources used for agriculture.
Collaboration between veterinary services, public health officials, and environmental agencies ensures that food safety controls are applied at every stage of the food production chain. This cross-sectoral coordination helps address underlying causes of foodborne illnesses, such as poor sanitation, unsafe farming practices, or climate-related disruptions, which can exacerbate food safety risks.
4. Climate change and environmental impact
Climate change is exacerbating food safety risks by increasing the prevalence of pests, diseases, and extreme weather events that affect food production. A One Health approach can help countries better understand the link between environmental changes and food safety risks, allowing them to adapt agricultural practices accordingly.
For example, extreme heat and drought can increase the levels of a toxic compound produced by mold, in staple crops like maize and peanuts. A One Health approach can promote climate-resilient farming practices, reducing the risk of such contamination and safeguarding food safety in vulnerable regions.