The Responsibility We Share

If it is not safe, it is not food.

This short sentence from the World Health Organization captures something fundamental about our profession. We can make food more nutritious, affordable, sustainable, and appealing, but none of those things matter if the food isn’t safe to consume.

In 2017 and 2018, South Africa experienced the largest detected listeriosis outbreak in the world. More than 1,000 people became ill, and 216 died. Investigators ultimately traced the outbreak to ready-to-eat processed meat produced at a facility in the northern region of the country. Whole genome sequencing played an important role in connecting the strain found in patients with the strain found in the production environment and finished products.

It was a tragedy that exposed just how consequential food safety can be. But what happened afterward is also an important part of the story.

Later that year, Stellenbosch University, in conjunction with Tiger Brands, whose Enterprise Foods facility had been identified as the source of the outbreak, established South Africa’s first Centre for Food Safety. Tiger Brands provided funding to help establish the Centre, which is independently managed by the university. The vision was bigger than addressing one outbreak. It was to strengthen food safety across the country by bringing together scientific expertise from academia with the practical experience of the food industry.

Today, the Centre works directly with food manufacturers on real-world food safety challenges. Much of that research involves our master’s and PhD students, who collaborate with manufacturers in their facilities, collecting samples, observing production processes, and seeing firsthand how food safety practices are implemented. They develop a strong understanding of the science while also seeing firsthand what it takes to apply that science in a working food system, generating recommendations for improvement and best practices.

And perhaps most importantly, the knowledge gained through this work is meant to be shared.

In food innovation, there are good reasons for companies to closely protect formulations, processes, and intellectual property. Food safety is different. Food safety is non-negotiable. Research conducted through the Centre is intended to contribute to a broader body of knowledge so that what we learn from one challenge can help others prevent or address the next.

To me, that illustrates something important about food science. Our work rarely stops at the walls of a laboratory, university, company, or even a country.

And the challenges we are preparing for continue to change.

Population growth and increasing urbanization are changing how food is produced, distributed, and consumed. Supply chains are becoming longer and more interconnected. At the same time, climate change is altering the conditions in which food is grown, processed, transported, and stored.

Those changes have implications for food safety. Shifts in temperature and humidity can affect microbial growth and contamination risks. They can influence where particular hazards emerge and, over time, may require us to reconsider what we monitor and how we manage those risks.

This interconnectedness is why I believe we have to keep looking at food safety across the entire food system. A problem at one point in the chain can quickly have consequences somewhere else. Fortunately, our ability to understand and respond to those risks is also advancing.

The South African listeriosis outbreak demonstrated that. Whole genome sequencing was instrumental in identifying its source. Today, increasingly sophisticated testing, sampling, and monitoring systems allow food scientists to detect potential problems more quickly and understand them with far greater precision than was possible in the past. Advances in artificial intelligence and other technologies may help us become even faster and more effective.

But technology alone will never ensure that food is safe.

It takes scientists who understand the fundamentals. It takes people who can recognize emerging risks, ask the right questions, interpret the evidence, and translate what they learn into action. And it requires collaboration among academia, industry, government, and others throughout the food system.

Food scientists are at the forefront of that work.

We may work in very different places and at very different points along the food value chain, but the work we do touches people’s lives every day. We prevent illness. We strengthen food systems. We develop and share knowledge that helps others make food safer.

It is an extraordinary responsibility and a reminder of just how important our profession is.