van Leeuwen Stefan P J, Verschoor A M, van der Fels-Klerx H J, van de Schans M G M, Berendsen B J A
Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR), Wageningen University & Research, Akkermaalsbos 2, 6708 WB, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
NPJ Sci Food. 2024 Jun 19;8(1):34. doi: 10.1038/s41538-024-00265-y.
The transition from linear production towards a circular agro-food system is an important step towards increasing Europe's sustainability. This requires re-designing the food production systems, which inevitably comes with challenges as regards controlling the safety of our food, animals and the ecosystem. Where in current food production systems many food safety hazards are understood and well-managed, it is anticipated that with the transition towards circular food production systems, known hazards may re-emerge and new hazards will appear or accumulate, leading to new -and less understood- food safety risks. In this perspective paper, we present a simple, yet effective approach, to identify knowledge gaps with regard to food safety in the transition to a circular food system. An approach with five questions is proposed, derived from current food safety management approaches like HACCP. Applying this to two cases shows that risk assessment and management should emphasize more on the exposure to unexpected (with regards to its nature and its origin) hazards, as hazards might circulate and accumulate in the food production system. Five knowledge gaps became apparent: there's a need for (1) risk assessment and management to focus more on unknown hazards and mixtures of hazards, (2) more data on the occurrence of hazards in by-products, (3) better understanding the fate of hazards in the circular food production system, (4) the development of models to adequately perform risk assessments for a broad range of hazards and (5) new ways of valorization of co-products in which a safe-by-design approach should be adopted.
从线性生产向循环农业食品系统的转变是提高欧洲可持续性的重要一步。这需要重新设计食品生产系统，而这不可避免地会带来控制我们的食品、动物和生态系统安全方面的挑战。在当前的食品生产系统中，许多食品安全危害已为人所知并得到妥善管理，但预计随着向循环食品生产系统的转变，已知危害可能会再次出现，新的危害将会出现或累积，从而导致新的、人们了解较少的食品安全风险。在这篇观点论文中，我们提出了一种简单而有效的方法，以识别向循环食品系统转变过程中食品安全方面的知识差距。我们提出了一个包含五个问题的方法，该方法源自当前的食品安全管理方法，如危害分析与关键控制点（HACCP）。将此方法应用于两个案例表明，风险评估和管理应更多地强调对意外（就其性质和来源而言）危害的暴露，因为危害可能在食品生产系统中循环和累积。五个知识差距变得明显：需要（1）风险评估和管理更多地关注未知危害和危害混合物；（2）获取更多关于副产品中危害发生情况的数据；（3）更好地了解循环食品生产系统中危害的归宿；（4）开发模型以充分对广泛的危害进行风险评估；（5）采用安全设计方法对副产品进行新的增值利用方式。
