Today on World Food Safety Day (7th June) we highlight the variety of work across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) that is bringing together insights from across science, business and society to ensure safe, sustainable food for all.
Safe, healthy food is vital for a healthy society, but there are constant challenges around assuring food safety and standards – ensuring people in the UK can trust that the food they buy and eat is safe, and it is what it says it is. From minimising the impact of food-borne diseases and protecting those with allergies and intolerances, food safety encompasses several issues, including those that are more complex and posed by factors such as climate change, long supply chains, changing markets, new agricultural techniques, and shifting consumer trends.
Creating a robust, healthy food system, which is also ethical and sustainable, is a major challenges of the 21st century. The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) later this year will focus attention on this issue, asking questions such as; how do we replace synthetic, petrochemical-based, plastic packaging, which have a huge environmental footprint but are very effective in preventing food contamination? Professor Robin May, Chief Scientific Advisor, at the FSA shares “It is key that we work together to find sustainable solutions that do not come at the expense of food safety“, he added “we’ve all experienced changes to the way we interact with food in the last year due to the impact of COVID-19, and some of these may have a more lasting impact than others.” (Read the GFS report: Building back better for increased resilience of the UK food system to future shocks (PDF, 2MB))
The only way to meet these complex, global challenges is with an interdisciplinary approach that brings together insights from across research, government, stakeholders and society. Funding this is a strategic priority for the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) who are committed to supporting research around food safety, ranging from developing better food safety advice to extending the shelf life of packaged salad; “ensuring the sustainable production, integrity and safety of our food are critical challenges and that require different disciplines to work together to develop new approaches and novel solutions” shared Professor Melanie Welham, Executive Chair of BBSRC. “The projects that we are supporting across BBSRC, and UKRI more broadly, are making really important contributions to this area. And we must also remember the perspective of the consumer – public dialogue around food is essential” Professor Welham added.
Projects across UKRI taking this interdisciplinary approach to tackle food safety include the flagship £50 million UKRI Transforming the UK Food System Strategic Priorities Fund programme, led by the Global Food Security programme (GFS) and administered by BBSRC in partnership with Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Public Health England (PHE), Innovate UK, Food Standards Agency (FSA). Similar interdisciplinary approaches have been achieved via workshops, including a recent Food Safety workshop in October 2020 which brought together; BBSRC, ESRC, FSA, Food Standards Scotland (FSS), Medical Research Council (MRC), Innovate UK, PHE, academia and industry.
Additionally UKRI recognises the public as key food system stakeholders; what has been shown possible by research may not always be practical or affordable, and so finding the most appropriate interventions will require insights from a range of stakeholders. The recent funding opportunity Citizen Science for Food Standards Challenges aimed to broaden out ways the public could be involved in building the evidence-base to inform policy decisions around food safety, and brought together BBSRC, ESRC and FSA. Dr Christian Reynolds, senior lecturer in food policy at the University of London added “involving the public in a real-world partnership with science can create real impact. We have got so used to a system where industry or government do the monitoring. But citizen science can flip that on its head and engage otherwise marginalised groups with issues that matter to them around food.” Dr Ben Goodall, Research Coordination and Partnerships Lead, FSA, shared that “whilst the research outputs are important in their own right, studentships also create a pool of talented individuals who will go on to have a lasting impact on our food system through key roles in government, industry and academic research” and that with this “many may find themselves as future policy and industry leaders, providing a robust science base to ensure evidence-led policy is at the heart of the UK food system for a long time to come.”
The constant challenges that affect the delivery of food safety and standards can be addressed by bringing different insights together– from scientists, to consumers, to traders, and policymakers – and GFS partners are working together to ensure safe food for a healthy tomorrow.