Emerging Issues in Food Safety

1. Emerging Issues in Food Safety Dr Kalpagam Polasa*, Ph. D. Scientist ‘F’ & HoD FDTRC and Dr. B. Sesikeran*, MD, FAMS Director *National Institute of Nutrition (Indian Council of Medical Research) Hyderabad – 500 604 Email: sesikeran@gmail.com

2. Eating Food is a Risky Process Native Immunity and traditional Culinary practices are major protective factors

3. Climate change and Food safety • Eco system changes lead to more pests, less predators,more vectors for microbes • Unseasonal rains – humidity and fungal growth • Flooding – water contamination- soil contamination- unsafe food • Higher Ocean temperatures- algal blooms- harbour Vibrios in spore like forms- Novel strains' eg O139 Bengal • Changes in aquatic life and formation of marine biotoxins in sea foods due to production of phytotoxins by harmful algae

4. New food borne pathogens • Campylobacter jejuni-poultry meat and unpasteurised milk • Listeria monocytogenes-milk, cheese, vegetables and meat products • E.coli 0157:H7-. Water and cooked maize, meat products

5. NANOTECHNOLOGY IN FOOD INDUSTRY – SAFETY ISSUE • As of March 8, 2006, 212 products or product lines were using nanotechnology of which 19 were food and beverage products • Nano Sensors in Pathogen detection • Nano drops in oil – healthier oil • Silver nano and nano composites in packaging • “There is no hard evidence that nanomaterials in products on the market will harm humans or the environment, but there is enough evidence to say that we need to reexamine.''

6. Functional Foods – Safety Functional foods • natural food, • a food to which a component has been added, • a food from which a component has been removed, • a food where the nature of one or more components has been modified, • a food in which the bioavailability of one or more components has been modified • or any combination of these possibilities. • Due to their diversity all functional foods require a case by case evaluation for their safety. • This process must include both nutritional and toxicological evaluation.

7. Food Vs Drug • Food- Conventional • Foods for special dietary use eg convalescence, pregnancy, lactation, underweight/ overweight, hypoallergenic etc • Medical Foods- for distinctive disease conditions eg DM, HTN,CRF etc • Dietary Supplements- vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, concentrates, extracts- not a meal or part of a meal • If for prevention, mitigation, treatment or cure- Drug

8. Upper safe limit of Nutrients • Fixing upper safety limit for intake of essential nutrients and it should be applied to functional foods and their bioactive components. • For eg. Increase in soy consumption can reduce risk of heart disease but exaggerated soy intake may increase risk of tumor proliferation in some individuals.

9. Nutrient Risk Assessment • Science based upper levels of intake • Helps policies for food standards and fortification guidelines • Risk Assessment is required

10. Steps in Risk Assessment • Hazard Identification- scientific review • Specify Dose response- establish upper level • Intake /Exposure assessment • Risk characterization- public health impact • Too little nutrients and too much nutrients – both are safety issues • Nutrient risk assessments have to be life stage specific eg adolescents, lactating. Aging populations etc

11. Biotechnology derived foods and products • Approved vs unapproved • Detection methods and limits • Toxicity and Allergenicity data • Labelling requirement

12. Factors for Substantiation of Nutritional Safety

13. Factors for Substantiation of Nutritional Safety (Contd..)

14. OUTBREAK HANDLING MECHANISMS, EARLY DETECTION AND TRACEABILITY • Enhance surveillance and build an early warning system. • Equip Central and other state health departments with state of the art technology – Rapidly Diagnose, Track, Communicate, Control and Prevent • Create a national electronic network for rapid finger print comparison. • Improve responses to food borne outbreaks -states and other governmental bodies with expertise and resources should share responsibility for outbreak response. • Establish inter-state governmental food borne outbreak response coordinating group • Impose risk assessment and establish an interagency risk assessment consortium.

15. OUTBREAK HANDLING MECHANISMS, EARLY DETECTION AND TRACEABILITY • Develop new research methods that are rapid cost effective for presence of food pathogens. • Document emerging pathogen resistance and develop techniques for prevention and control of pathogens. • Improve inspection, compliance • Strict implementation of HACCP wherever necessary (processed foods, meat products). Preventive measures for fresh fruits, juices, milk, milk products and other high risk commodities. • Identify preventive measures to address public health problems associated with produce, eg. Staphycococcus, salmonella in khoa, hepatitis A in frozen strawberries. These measures will be identified by inspection, sampling and analytical methods. • Mandatory Food safety education and licensing of all stake holders, starting from producers to consumers.

16. FOOD SAFETY AND BIOTERRORISM • The US FDA has listed the following pathogens or pathogen products that could be used in biological warfare: • Smallpox (variola) • Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) • Plague (yersinia pestis) • Tularemia (Francisella tularensis) • Brucellosis (Brucella abortus) • Q fever (Coxiella burnellii) • Botulism toxin (produced by clostridium botulinun) • Staphylococcal enterotoxin B • New products to diagnose, counter and treat these public health threats • Creation of civil emergency group to tackle emergencies. • Create awareness among food handlers and follow practices of basic food safety handling

17. FOOD SAFETY AND BIOTERRORISM • Enhance our ability to identify food safety risks • Improve our inspections of domestic and imported foods • Foreign food suppliers are required to register

18. SAFETY CONCERNS FOLLOWING FOOD PROCESSING • Safety of bottled water • Water source • Piping treatment process and bottling equipment • GMP • Packaging • Quality control system • Safety of soft drinks • Microbial contamination • Packaging material • Chemicals, additives • Equipment used in processing • Formation of mutagens / carcinogens like Nitrosamines in foods and beverages • Processed foods – Transfat • Intake of transfatty acids from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils have deleterious effect on cardiovascular health. • TFA are more atherogenic and high intake can promote insulin resistance. • Mandatory addition of the levels of TFA to nutrition labeling would enable consumers to make healthier choice.

19. SAFETY OF BOTANICALS IN TRADITIONAL FOODS • 1. Different types of products fall under the umbrella of “natural products with health benefits”. • 2. Supplements or foods containing high levels of nutrients or other compounds can have effects on presence of other nutrients in adequate amounts. This can occur as a result of • destruction of nutrients • reduction of availability of nutrients • inference with utilization of nutrients • decrease in food intake

20. SAFETY OF BOTANICALS IN TRADITIONAL FOODS 3. Traditional foods are considered safe as they have long history of use. However, if they are modified by processing or by any other method their substantial equivalence and nutrient content analysis has to be done. 4. For example, oats and psyllium have long history of safe use and now are claimed to reduce risk of CHD. In animals increased cell proliferation in GI tract, allergic reactions in some people and gastrointestinal obstruction have been reported when they were evaluated at the likely level of consumption. • Consumption of fenugreek at high levels can cause crystaluria in some individuals. The safety of traditionally consumed food components should be in levels consumed in age old practice, but not in high levels.

21. SAFETY OF BOTANICALS IN TRADITIONAL FOODS 6. Method for safe preparation of some plants such as cassava are known in cultures that depend on it as a staple but its introduction into a naïve market place could cause cyanide poisoning. 7. Another example, hypoglycin A in unripe ackee fruit causes a devastating illness called Jamaican vomiting sickness. Ripe, seedless pericarp of this plant is desirable and safe and ackee is Jamaican National Fruit. 8. Canned ackee fruit is prohibited into US until a quality assurance that toxic levels of hypoglycin is not present in product is given.

22. FOOD CONTACT WITH SUBSTANCES • Packaging innovation to ensure food safety as certain components of packing like printing inks, labels, colours, seals can affect food quality. • Innovative packaging like vaccum packaging, controlled atmosphere or modified atmospheric packaging (CAP or MAP). MAP involves sealing package under vaccum or one time gas flushing and sealing. Three types of gases may be used singly or in combination namely nitrogen, carbondioxide and oxygen. • Active Packaging – includes additives capable of scavenging or absorbing oxygen, CO2, ethylene, moisture, odour and flavours. May have powder sachet of iron and calcium hydroxide.

23. Intelligent Packaging • Provides way to monitor and relay information regarding the status of contents and verifies information. Food packaging manufacturers have developed several innovative intelligent packages that include time, temperature indicators, antitheft and use RFID devices. • Toxicity testing of food packaging materials have to be done in animals as human data are rarely available.

24. Materials other than plastic • Glass – has been used for many years, may result in leaching of lead. • Ceramics – may result in leaching of heavy metals particularly when in contact with acidic beverages like fruit juices. • Cans – food packed in tin cans with lead soldered seams are a source of a number of metals, including lead, chromium, tin and cadmium. • Safety assessment of food packaging material requires knowledge of chemical toxicity, migration and technological developments. • Human exposure data can be collected wherever possible

25. FRAUD RELATED ISSUES – (MISLEADING TO POISONING) • Adulteration eg. Melamine • International contamination of food / feed may occur due to • Adulteration with other ingredients, ignoring hazards due to thoughtlessness or lack of knowledge. • Withholding information necessary for preventive or curative measures and irresponsible information policy, incomplete information or mislabeling. • Using techniques or processes known to be highly risky or totally out of date. • Using unclean or inappropriate (illegal) containers or means of transportation for food / feed. • Irresponsible handling of contaminated solid or liquid waters • Neglecting basic rules of (food) hygiene or disease control.

26. Chemical Contamination • Severe accidents related to heavy metals (lead, methyl mercury, copper) are known • Toxic oil syndrome – intended adulteration of edible oils(argemone oil) • Mycotoxin contamination • Deterioration of food to improper storage (transportation) • Microbial contamination (unintended) (Vibrio cholerae, salmonellosis Listeria monocytogenes).

27. GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC DIFFERENCES IN POPULATIN AND DIFFERENTIAL RESPONSES TO FOOD AND FOOD INGREDIENTS • Genetic predisposition is important determinant in sensitization of food / components. • In food allergic individuals IgE is produced against naturally occurring food components primarily glycoproteins that retain their allergenicity even after heating. • Common allergens: cow milk, goat milk, egg, fish, shelfish, meat, pollen, chocolates, some nuts, recombinant products.

28. Clinical intolerance • Freeze dried egg may be more allergic than heated egg. Ovomucoid is the major allergenic protein in egg white. • Allergic reaction to kiwi fruit is known in adults / children. The allergen is 30 kDa cysteine protease • Apple, banana are also known to cause allergenicity. • Herbicides and Fungicides modulate allergenicty of apple

29. Allergies to carrot and garden herbs are linked to celery allergy. • Other vegetables are lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes. Cooked form can be eaten by allergic patients without untoward effects

30. Cereals and baked products: • Inhalent respiratory reactions to wheat described as baker’s asthma. • The water soluble wheat proteins and insoluble gliadins have been implicated in IgE mediated allergy. • These are thermostable and even long time baking under high temperature does not reduce their allergenicity. • Infact baking may increase the resistance of potential allergen in wheat flour by proteolytic digestion and allow them to reach GI tract intact.

31. Food Intolerance : Lactase Deficiency

32. Nutrient drug interaction : • Grape fruit juices and other juices may alter drug metabolism. • Foods and herbs that contain pharmacologically active compounds can inhibit cytochrome P450 system. • Dietary flavanoids can inhibit activities of several DMEs. • Foods that affect intestinal or hepatic metabolism of drugs can cause treatment failure or drug induced toxicity. • Other botanicals like Guargum used as Stabilizer, thickening agent in cheese, salads dressings, ice cream and soups can prolong gastric retention and reported to slow absorption of digoxin, paracetamol bumetanide and decrease absorption of metformin, phenoxymethyl pencillin and glibenclamide

35. Rapid alert System for Food and feed- July 2003-07 Kleter et al ;FCT, 47(2009) 932-950

36. Rapid Alert System for Food and feed- July 2003-07- Chemical hazards

37. Future Requirements • Establishing Good Practices in Food Chain • Risk Assessment and Management shall be a part of all regulatory approvals • Monitoring,Sampling,Identifying, • Documenting, Alerting, Acting, Tracking Preventing - Safety Net • Data generation where there are knowledge gaps • Effective communication mechanisms • From reaction and response to anticipation and prevention

38. Good Practices in Food Chain • Good Agricultural Practices- land use , pesticide use • Good Catering Practices- ensure food served is safe and wholesome • Good Hygiene Practices- • Good Laboratory Practices- Quality control and analytical labs • Good Manufacturing Practices • Good Retail Practices- tracing system to track faulty product- use RFID and GPS • Good Storage Practices • Good Transport Practices • Good Nutrition and House keeping Practices

39. Thank You and Safe Eating