-
文献信息
文献标题：
Viewpoint: Future of
food safety and nutrition - Seeking
win-wins,
coping
with
trade-offs
（观
点：食品安全与营养的未来——追求双
赢，权衡利弊）
文献作者：
Mylona K, Maragkoudakis
P, Miko L, et al.
文献出处：
《
Food
Policy
》
,2018,74:143-146.
字数统计：
英文
2741
单词，
15243
字符；中文
50
57
汉字
外文文献
Viewpoint: Future of food safety and
nutrition - Seeking
win-wins, coping
with trade-offs
Abstract
The possible implications
of global trends such as climate change and
resource scarcity on food security are
high on the political agendas. While the food
sufficiency
aspect
of
food
security
takes
centre-stage,
the
future
of
food
safety
and
nutritional quality of diets often
seems to be taken for granted. This paper builds
on
the
results
of
a
foresight
study
on
EU
food
safety
and
nutrition
towards
2050
to
discuss
potential future points of tension for food
policy. Increasing food production
while using fewer resources and
reducing food waste while ensuring food safety are
just two examples. Innovation at
different levels in the food system will be needed
to
address future challenges. Fast
technology uptake and the launch of new food-
related
products can put pressure on
the ability to deliver timely risk assessments,
the scope
of which might also need to
cover other legitimate factors. Future food
policies need
to
be
more
sensitive
to
impacts
on
food
safety
and
nutrition
and
health
aspects.
A
holistic
food
systems
approach
must
be
taken
to
identify
and
discuss
in
advance
possible
tensions
and
trade-offs
and
to
address
them
upfront
in
a
systematic
and
transparent manner.
Keywords:
Food
safety;
Nutrition;
Foresight;
Challenges;
Preparedness;
Trade-offs
1. Introduction
One of the key questions dominating the
turn of this century is how to secure the
supply of sufficient, environmentally
sustainable, nutritious, safe and accessible-to-
all
food. Food security ('zero hunger')
features very high among the recently agreed 17
Sustainable
Development
Goals
(SDGs)
and
is
intimately
linked
to
several
other
SDGs
(United
Nations,
2015).
Ensuring
food
security
and
a
sustainable
agro-food
system is not an
easy task, given the impacts of climate change and
the need to reduce
greenhouse gas
emissions and to preserve key resources of
particular importance for
the water-
energy-food nexus. The increasing
global
population
and the transition
in
emerging
market
economies
towards
diets
of
predominantly
animal
origin,
put
additional
pressure
on
ensuring
sufficient
food
production
(Alexandratos
and
Bruinsma, 2012). We have
seen how disruptive events and geo-political
developments
such as the 2008 economic
crisis or the 2015 EU/Russian embargo, which
resulted in
a
43%
decrease
of
EU
agri-food
exports
to
Russia,
had
dramatic
consequences
for
both
food
producers
and
consumers
(Szczepanski,
2015).
In
addition,
recent
developments
such
as
the
decision
of
the
United
Kingdom
to
leave
the
European
Union and the repercussions this may
bring to both parties, demonstrate the need to
take into account uncertainty in policy
design.
While access to “safe” and
“nutritious” food is integral in the definition
of food
security,
most
studies
focus
on
how
to
ensure
the
“sufficiency”
requirement
of
this
definition.
It
can
be
argued
that
the
reason
for
this
is
the
high
level
of
food
safety
currently enjoyed in developed regions.
The EU in particular takes pride in its food
safety legislative framework, which is
seen as one of the most advanced in the world.
This
is
achieved
through
science-based
risk
analysis
based
on
the
precautionary
principle
and
an
institutional
separation
of
risk
assessment,
management
and
communication. But even
in this environment, the occasional food 'crisis'
such as the
German
EHEC
O104:H4
outbreak
(Robert
Koch
Institut,
2011),
unearths
the
vulnerabilities
of
the
system.
One
may
also
argue
that
ensuring
safety,
nutritional
quality,
variety
and
balance
of
foods
and
diets
as
well
as
the
underlying
social,
environmental and
economic determinants, do not receive the
attention they deserve
in
food
security
studies,
as
the
sufficiency
aspect
appears
to
be
more
pressing.
Moreover, the abundant food offer and
almost unrestricted access to a large variety of
nutritious quality foods in most of the
developed countries, result in the skewed view
that it is up to the individual to make
the right decisions and succeed in life and
health.
Making
nutritious
food
available
does
not
automatically
lead
to
population-wide
healthy
diets
(Butland
et
al.,
2007).
Despite
a
series
of
initiatives
and
action
plans
towards
the
promotion
of
healthier
diets
and
prevention
of
chronic
diseases
(High
Level Group on
Nutrition and Physical activity, 2014, WHO, 2014),
achieving health
targets
such
as
those
defined
in
the
WHO
Noncommunicable
Diseases
Global
Monitoring
Framework
2025
(World
Health
Organization,
2015a)
proves
to
be
difficult already today.
To shed light on possible
f
uture challenges, we have analysed
whether the EU’s
regulatory and policy
framework in the areas of food safety and
nutrition can ensure
“safe
food”
and
“good
nutrition”
as
we
look
ahead
to
2050
(Mylona
et
al.,
2016).
Drivers of change (global trade, agro-
food chain structure, technology uptake, social
cohesion,
food
values,
climate
change,
depletion
of
natural
resources
and
world
population
growth)
were
combined
to
create
four
alternative,
plausible
and
challenging future
scenarios (Mylona et al., 2016). While the study
was intended to
inform EU policies and
to complement the recent Fitness Check of the
General Food
Law
(Regulation
(EC)
No
178/2002),
its
conclusions
are
of
relevance
for
almost
every jurisdiction.
We identified several points of tension
where policies or interventions that aim to
improve
food
safety,
the
diets
of
populations
or
food
sufficiency
conflict
with
each
other.
We conclude that a holistic food systems approach
must be taken to identify and
discuss
in
advance
such
tensions,
in
order
to
find
a
compromise
between
equally
important
aspects
of
the
food
system
and
accept
trade-offs
in
a
systematic
and
transparent
manner.
And
beyond
trade-
offs,
such
an
approach
could
also
identify
synergies in different policy areas and
lead to win-win scenarios. This opinion paper
invites global thought leaders to
critically reflect on some of these.
2. Compromising food safety for
achieving sufficiency?
Intensive
production
systems
have
soared
under
the
pressure
to
increase
yield.
This has been further facilitated by
the continuous concentration of the food industry
into bigger entities and the economies
of scale to reduce production costs. Should this
intensification
and
industrialisation
continue
–
driven
by
population
growth
and
offsetting losses caused by a worsening
climate
–
many issues may
arise.
Beyond the biodiversity and
environmental effects of the use of a limited
number
of high-yield species or
varieties in intensive farming, these crops
themselves are also
more susceptible to
disease and pests. Fertilisers must be supplied
regularly to ensure
the
necessary
high
crop
yield
and
the
supply
and
access
to
these
is
also
finite
and
complex.
Take
phosphate
(P)
as
an
example;
the
amount
of
accessible
high
quality
phosphate
rock
is
low
and
diminishing
fast;
risks
to
animal
and
human
health
are
associated
with
the
use
of
low
quality
P-fertilisers
containing
worrying
levels
of
heavy
metals
such
as
arsenic,
cadmium
and
lead
(Jiao
et
al.,
2012).
Similarly,
the
increasing use of
antimicrobials in animal farming to prevent the
spread of diseases
has led to the
development of resistant animal and zoonotic
pathogens. This resistance
may even
compromise the effectiveness of antibiotic
treatments for different human
diseases
(ECDC/EFSA/EMA,
2015).
The
global
consumption
of
antimicrobials
in
livestock farming is nonetheless
projected to rise by 67% by 2030, due to the
growing
number of animals raised and
the continuous shift towards intensive farming
systems
(Van Boeckel et al., 2015). All
these issues need to be looked at closely.
Curbing
antimicrobial
resistance,
for
example,
is
already
a
priority
globally
(World
Health Organization,
2015b) and in
the EU as
well
(European Commission,
2017). Actions
taken or being discussed include banning the use
of antimicrobial feed
additives,
rethinking
the
currently
practiced
animal
husbandry
system,
enhancing
prevention, use of alternative
treatments, surveillance and cooperation at
international
level.