Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 1 Food Safety in the 21 st century: Global intelligence 2010 WHO resolution (the last one was from 2000) Jørgen Schlundt Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses, WHO Geneva

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 2 Change Issues Concepts - From Rules to Hazard to Risk Burden- How much disease from food Testing- The more the better ? Sharing- A global market

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 3 Concepts

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 4 New trends in regulatory food safety m moving from ‘vertical’ legislation to Risk analysis and ‘horizontal’ rulings m directing resources towards areas with high risk m cooperation between agriculture, food safety and health authorities

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 5 Hazard and Risk Hazard : Biological, chemical or physical agent, capable of causing disease Risk : Probability of disease (combined with seriousness of outcome) Hazard but no Risk : Staphylococcus aureus can cause disease through toxin production – but only when present in very high concentration Food with < 100 Staph. Aureus per gram does not cause disease

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 6 Risk Analysis Risk AssessmentRisk Management Risk Communication  Science based  Policy based  Interactive exchange of information and opinions concerning risks

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 7 Codex Alimentarius - its scientific basis -  Codex – Risk management  FAO/WHO Expert Bodies  JECFA – food additives, vet. drug residues, contaminants in food  JMPR – pesticide residues in food  JEMRA – microbiological hazards in food  ad hoc Expert Consultations Liaison & Separation Risk assessment

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 8 Burden

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 9 What is "Foodborne Disease Burden"? Diseases commonly transmitted through food All causes - pathogens, chemicals, parasites Acute and chronic diseases Long-term complications Morbidity, disability and mortality Diarrhoea Cancers 1.8 mio deaths/year 7.3 mio deaths/year % foodborne? Morbidity? Disability?

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 10 Attributable Fractions Salmonella Source Account l Registered human cases m Sero-, phage- & DNA types l Prevalence in food animal reservoirs m Sero-, phage- & DNA types l Comparison of types m Certain types almost exclusively isolated from single sources m Other types ascribed to source proportionally to indicative types

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 11 Salmonella elimination is a realistic possibility through science-based action plans Elimination does not mean eradication But moving from 40% of chicken to less than 1 % of chicken infected eliminates a significant number of human cases

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 12 Testing

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 13 Three reasons not to rely on - stupid testing m Low prevalence events – very low probability of detection m The amounts you need to test to achieve full coverage m The food is often eaten when you have the results

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 14 Lot: 0.1% defectives 10 samples: Probability of detection ~ 1% 10 samples: Probability of detection ~ 1% Safety cannot be achieved by testing alone

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 15 Intelligence through testing m Define test methodology to fit risk assessment m Define test regime to fit risk assessment and epidemiological needs m Use the results actively in modeling and monitoring risk m Report all test results

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 16 Sharing

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 17 Sharing the burden globally reaping the benefit in all countries m No need to export old-fashioned system m Build capacity to test in comparable ways m Enabling sharing of data over borders m Providing a scientific basis for international food safety action

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 18 '' Only if we act together can we respond effectively to international food safety problems and ensure safer food for everyone'' Dr Margaret Chan – Director-General INFOSAN – The International Food Safety Authorities Network

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 19 WHO's surveillance Networks Information Dissemination Emergency response INFOSAN Secretariat Two arms of the INFOSAN Network 176 member countries

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 20 Examples of INFOSAN Emergency ALERTS "Information traveling faster than rumour" September 2006 E.coli 0157:H7 in spinach to all members of INFOSAN oSecondary distribution resulted in a potentially global issue September 2007 Shigella in baby corn exported to 3 countries oDistribution records identified countries receiving the affected product September 2008 Melamine in infant formula oAll Member States warned, including five countries potentially importing December 2008 Dioxin in pork products oAction to recall all pork products – and reasoning – communicated to all

Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, World Health Organization 21 Food Safety can improve dramatically globally if we learn from past mistakes and share our experience - globally Yes - we can