Journal of Preventive Medicine

Description

Climate change is considered primarily as a human-created phenomenon that is changing the way humans live. Nowhere are the impacts of climate change more evident than in the food ecosphere. Climate-induced changes in temperature, precipitation, and rain patterns, as well as extreme weather events have already started impacting the yield, quality, and safety of food. Food safety and the availability of food is a fundamental aspect of ensuring food security and an adequate standard of living. With climate change, there have been increasing instances of observed changes in the safety of food, particularly from a microbiological standpoint, as well as its quality and yield. Thus, there is an urgent need for the implementation of advanced methods to predict the food safety implications of climate change (i.e., future food safety issues) from a holistic perspective (overall food system). Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other such advanced technologies have, over the years, permeated many facets of the food chain, spanning both farm- (or ocean-) to-fork production, and food quality and safety testing and prediction. As a result, these are perfectly positioned to develop novel models to predict future climate change-induced food safety risks. This article provides a roundup of the latest research on the use of AI in the food industry, climate change and its impact on the food industry, as well as the social, ethical, and legal limitations of the same. Particularly, this perspective review stresses the importance of a holistic approach to food safety and quality prediction from a microbiological standpoint, encompassing diverse data streams to help stakeholders make the most informed decisions. Many steps in the food chain, including handling by consumers, can cause foodborne disease. However, consumer risk perception varies; while some consumers are concerned about the actual causes of food poisoning, others may focus on different factors that pose less risk to their health.

Cluster Analysis

This study used hierarchical cluster analysis to examine Japanese consumers’ concerns about information regarding food safety. The analysis yielded six clusters, including those concerned about food hygiene control, which is vital for preventing food poisoning. However, it was suggested that individuals within the cluster concerned about food hygiene control might not have sufficient interest in or knowledge of food safety. On the contrary, those with a wider range of concerns were more preoccupied with the chemicals intentionally used in food, which may be further influenced by the media used to obtain information on food safety. Our study revealed that it is necessary to align not only the content of education but also the means of disseminating it to the target populations to implement effective consumer education on food safety and health promotion. These findings further expand our understanding of consumer risk perceptions and may be used to implement improved, more evidence-based public awareness strategies regarding food safety. Qualitative research studies make up only a small portion of all publications in the food disciplines. Despite this, these approaches have offered an indepth understanding of several food safety and food security problems over the last few decades. However, there continues to be inadequate reporting of qualitative research specific to food contexts, which results in a lack of transparency, rigour, questioning the credibility of qualitative approaches, and challenges in its uptake and synthesis. Several reviews of qualitative evidence in food safety have found reporting to be lacking in the following areas: study title, philosophical orientation, study design, researcher reflexivity, ethical approval, and qualitative analysis. In this paper, we describe the primary hurdles new qualitative researchers face in conducting and reporting research, and present practical solutions to complex qualitative challenges. For permanent and widespread changes aimed at advancing qualitative evidence in the food disciplines, we call on food educators to integrate qualitative methods training in research-based programs; journals and reviewers to appraise qualitative studies using established reporting guidelines; and appeal to academic publishers to expand current word limits to facilitate reporting of all important aspects of qualitative research.

Food Safety

The food safety of livestock is a critical issue between animals and humans due to their complex interactions. Pathogens have the potential to spread at every stage of the animal food handling process, including breeding, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, marketing and consumption. In addition, application of the antibiotic usage in domestic animals is a controversial issue because, while they can combat food- borne zoonotic pathogens and promote animal growth and productivity, they can also lead to the transmission of antibioticresistant microorganisms and antibiotic-resistant genes across species and habitats. Coevolution of microbiomes may occur in humans and animals as well which may alter the structure of the human microbiome through animal food consumption. One Health is a holistic approach to systematically understand the complex relationships among humans, animals and environments which may provide effective countermeasures to solve food safety problems aforementioned. This paper depicts the main pathogen spectrum of livestock and animal products, summarizes the flow of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes between humans and livestock along the food-chain production, and the correlation of their microbiome is reviewed as well to advocate for deeper interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among researchers in medicine, epidemiology, veterinary medicine and ecology to promote One Health approaches to address the global food safety challenges. The extension of the food industrial chain increases the overall food safety risk, and such changes in risk level are related to the behavior of enterprises along the chain. The selection of behavior strategies by enterprises is not only affected by the behaviors of upstream and downstream enterprises, but is also related to external supervision by the government and society. Based on a social co-governance framework, this paper establishes a tripartite evolutionary game model that includes suppliers of raw materials, producers, and sellers. In light of the number of risk links in the food supply chain, all equilibrium points are classified into four risk situations, namely zero-link risk, single-link risk, double-link risk, or tri-link risk, to determine the conditions for their stability and verified using Matlab numerical simulation. The results show that the co-governance among the market, government, and society (consumers) is operating at a high-level state under the situation of zero-link risks in the food supply chain. It functions at a mid-level state under the situation of single-link risks and at a low-level state under the situations of double-link and tri-link risks. The risk level is only related to the level of social co-governance. The initial intention of any of the behavior subjects was not found to be a determining factor in terms of risk degree. Therefore, in order to prevent risks from occurring in all supply chain links concurrently, it is necessary to optimize the composition structure of the multi-supervision force of the government, market, society, and other stakeholders to achieve a multiplier effect in food safety risk control. This may provide insights for developing countries exploring the social co-governance of food safety risks.