Biolo-Zine: Food Safety PSA & Information!

l o o i Z B i n e e h T O2 Final Biology Issue

FOOD SAFETY of 202 3

DON’T OVERLOOK IT...

Before You Book It! - FOOD SAFETY

YOUR PURCHASE HAS BEEN PLACED

Look into what your purchased produce or food has in it. Think about recalls, whether you’re okay with eating genetic modifications and what you prioritize when it comes to THE FOOD YOU CONSUME!

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This image shows the main principles to safe food management on the organizational level. (Katon Food and Safety Inc., n.d)

what is food safety?

The topic of food safety goes about the bacteria, contamination, or overall foodborne issues in food. It is the main science in regard to food’s handling, preparing and storing (Public Health Ontario, n.d). The contamination can happen during any one of these areas where food is grown/made; its gateway to our plates and consumption by us. This includes contamination with harmful bacteria, parasites, chemical substances and transfers and more than can cause illness during this process.

In Ontario, issues with food safety are mainly seen in reported cases of foodborne illnesses such as campylobacter, listeria, salmonella, E. coli and Yersinia.

mainly looking at animals and packing + production...

THE Significance of FOOD SAFETY to Society or THE Environment: Animals and Biological Contamination: This is of great significance in regard to animals as a base, then progressing to society and human beings. Food can be contaminated by multiple living things, including humans. Other examples would be rodents, pests and micro organisms.

These specific examples end up with bacterial, viral or parasitic contamination through saliva (in regard to society and preparing or storing), blood, fecal matter and more. These types of animal and society-related significance are the most common causes of human food poisoning in the world (Australian Institute of FS, n.d).

The Environmental Impact From Food Packaging & Production: With industrial aspects of the Production process of the food, comes the safety one must look out for in regard to soil, water and air pollutants from industrial emissions already.

Contamination of urban/farm sewage is a part of chemicals used in the agricultural realm. Urban sewage highlights the parts of Food Packaging, while the Food Production is looked upon in regard to the soil and air pollution when farming.

s ed to Ide U s e i g o l o ntify hn c e T Produce Biological Age , Trea nts t o r Many different technologies are used in identifying food safety hazards. It is crucial to look into the hazards and danger for the safety of the food, rather than the idea in regard to keeping the food safe. The main idea for identification, treatment and production/growth.

Identifying Food Safety Hazards:

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Biological Safety Hazards: Bacteria growth, yeast, virus and parasitic Chemical: Innate chemical issues present in some fermented foods, cleaning agents, heat treatment, preservatives (also innate) Physical: Glass shards, metal fragments, bones, stones, utensil shards, objects of production that can cause human injury once again Allergenic: Food hazard allergies caused by proteins in the food

Further being issues with handling, preparing and storing: These can be seen as areas of cross-contamination, physical injury with equipment utilization, burn hazards during preparation or work conditions where there can be jewelry or hair. The main one that can happen within our own households following preparation and in-house storage would be spoilage or incorrect temperate conditions for storage (FoodDocs, 2022).

Food Safety Hazard Treatment: Mitigating these hazards...

Separation (No Cross Contamination) Temperature Awareness (CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d) These things should be followed when looking over the Cleaning, Separating, Cooking and Chilling needs for the long term safety of our food. This covers the steps that one can take when treating any Food Hazards present prior to consumption (FairFax County, n.d).

benefits & drawbacks of food safety Mostly in regard to Handling, Preparing & Storing

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Lastly, businesses can maintain a majorly good reputation/status for having their food safety in order. This recognition can then go about being a significant factor for the mentioned aspects of other economic segments.

Some disadvantages may be the delayed complications of smaller, or even bigger, business due to a lack of financial load/penalty. Based on a greater force foreseeing the issues, some Food Safety conditions may be swept under the rug and thus be a disadvantage. There could also be unfair/uneven enforcement.

Going along with smaller businesses not being called out for a lack of Food Safety, there can be major inconsistent enforcement (IBM, n.d).

So, if all of these areas of the industry have kept up with their safety, this allows for approximately 3 areas of the economy to stay thriving, (LinkedIn, 2021) also being a great win in regard to our food industry ‘ impacts on society. It is estimated that, in sub-Saharan Africa alone, food losses result in $4 billion lost annually. Most of this loss is linked to the lack of safe foods. The economy in this regard has losses when looking at producers, traders, processors, sellers and even us as consumers losing when mass amounts of unsafe foods need to be discarded. Society classifies food as a need, not a want. So, benefits are quite significant, another example being a reduction of burden for diseases directly linked to food. This, thus, adds another economy thriving and not being faced with the load of issues, that being the medical industry.

There is an estimate of 420,000 deaths per year due to a lack of Food Safety, so the mitigation of these numbers increasing would be crucial (World Health Organization, n.d).

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1. Bacteria w/ The Reproduction/Growth of It On Spoiled Food

Listeriosis was an infection that was seen to be a major distress to those living in Toronto during 2008. It call is caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. the same factory that had to The logo of Maple Leaf Foods, sed focu teria bac n, give this in ts The outbreak originated in lines 8 & 9 of the Maple a recall for their deli mea 2). d Safety (JustFood News, 202 biodiversity breakdown of Foo Leaf Foods within Toronto. There were 220 possibilities of contamination in that one given establishment at the Bartor road facility (Global News, 2009). This exact bacteria had traveled through, and within the deli meat, which are cooked when being packaged. The contamination was traced down to the packaging. The whole reason for the cooking process being done prior, was to allow for freeing the meat of pathogens, so this contamination was an odd appearance to the facility workers and public. The main connection and progression with food safety was when Federal inspectors would usually spend less Many suspected it could only/mainly appear in soils, sewage, water and vegetation which are a than 5 hours a day at a plant in a month, and at times even less. So, something like Listeria monocytogenes part of the base agriculture, perhaps why the being the cause of a recall, allowed for many people inspections were not greatly monitored (CBC, to become educated on its existence and, thus, its 2016). One now understands that Listeria monocytogenes can easily be in more than areas effects. One main example is understanding that this bacteria can appear in areas beyond the handling, of agriculture in regard to food safety. and agricultural level.

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Added Understanding of Animal Structure & Function as to what can happen to your body if you got Listeriosis from a Lack of Food Safety…

The main things that happen within the digestive system is an excess amount of diarrhea and with this comes chills, headaches and more. To focus in on the digestive system, as learned in previous units, diarrhea is when there is too little water absorbed while it is also, and in this case, a protective mechanism to get rid of something in the body.

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E V I R D S O ITY I B 2. Bacteria w/ The Reproducti on/Growth of It On Spoiled Food A table showing the progression of progressive loss of species in our ecosystem to show animal biodiversity and its loss is much like our manufacturing with food production (Iberdrola, n.d).

Here, there is a decrease of species and biodiversity. In the same way, humans can dictate what is being made more or less, thus reducing the Biodiversity of something like rice, in the EXAMPLE below.

There can be a reduction of biodiversity that occurs after GMOs are used for Food Safety. Not only GMOs but also alternative methods to reach safety when it comes to our food processing process, such as pesticides on crops.

When taking the idea of GMOs, if genetically modified foods are introduced into the environment (on farms with usual-growing crops) they can most definitely be overrun by the GMO processed foods to be more dominant and desired. Thus, reducing biodiversity. (Government of Netherlands, n.d.)

Another example may be in types of food. A good example would be rice, the chemically changed rice to be more suitable for shelf life, day to day use and even curating a better flavor would be bought more often. Thus, it needs to be produced more and grown more often too. The process of producing one kind of rice over multiple others causes a reduction of biodiversity in the long run (Kobayashi K, Wang X, 2023).

3. Climate Change from Pollutants Impacting Production of Food (Handling) The long term impacts of climate change are able to impact our day to day needs of food greatly. There are long term changes to temperature, humidity, rainfall patterns and more frequent extreme weather patterns than ever before; curating problematic farming practices.

Practices that have been consistent for multiple years have been needed to be altered, causing crop production and the nutritional qualities of food to be at risk (European Union, 2022). Climate changes may impact the severity of foodborne diseases, as well as encourage the spread of harmful invasive species.

A graph showing the ocean’s water is getting warmer resulting in issues with our collection of produce and raw foods (Statitca, Katharina Buchholz, 2023).

invasive species!

Rising seawater temperatures and nutrient input can promote the growth of toxin-producing algae, leading to seafood contamination outbreaks.

Especially as climate change is an established driving factor of the emergence of new pests and invasive species as they adapt to areas with unusual climates.

4. The Use of Antibiotics PostEncountering Food Safety Hazards...

Antimicrobials, also known as agents that destroy microbes, inhibit their growth, prevent or counteract their pathogenic action (National Pesticide Information Center, n.d), such as antibiotics, are essential when fighting infection caused by bacteria . Yet, with these foodborne pathogens causing infection and their treatment, one encounters the idea of antibiotic overuse.

Human medication has been linked to the emergency use and spread of resistant bacterias. Thus, bringing up treatments to infectious diseases that start to become greatly ineffective to humans, or even animals in veterinary cases (World Health Organization, n.d). The impact of foodborne diseases on public health and economies is often underestimated due to underreporting and challenges in establishing causal links between food contamination and resulting illness or death.

The 2015 WHO report provided the first-ever estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases caused by various agents.

GENETICS ELEVENCE IN FOOD SAFET R S T I Y...

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1.Genetic Engineering, Transferring Allergens

To go back to the idea of GMOs in crops, it connects the ideas of the Allergenic identifications of areas in which there is a lack of food safety. To start, I’m able to break down allergenicity to be the capacity to be an allergen that elicits a hypersensitive immune reaction. When comparing this to a mindless day-to-day thing society does like eat, and purchase food, this can be a great concern for genetic engineering and society.

Allergenic potential lies within multi[le foods as they tend to be within proteins while they are relatively small, resistant to heat, acid and stomach enzyme degradation (Hong Kong Gov. Center of Food Safety, n.d). The usage of genetic engineering to modify genetic make-up of crops is easily an altering factor in allergenic potentials.

One can understand that there was no intent of genetic modification to alter the allergenic potential, yet the occurrence during genetic engineering is mainly by using genes from foods that have greater allergenic potentials, for various reasons, into foods that have higher potentials of allergic reaction.

This diagram shows the process in which genetic processing and modification can REMOVE allergens from allergen-rich foods, yet, for the use of other genetic modifications this can occur in the wrong direction, adding more allergens to certain foods (Mohan B. Singh Genetic Engineering, 2014).

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2023) establishes the ideas of food safety and gene editing to vary in levels of safety from country to country. Many countries have found ways to include gene-editing in a safe and manageable manner, while many others have not even approached this area of food modification.

The difference between gene editing and genetic modification through the biotechnology industry is that gene editing is organisms producing changes that are implemented slowly through traditional breeding. Genetic modification is the transfer of DNA from one species to another. As this process does not impact the packaging, preparing or storing process, the FAO said it was desirable for the avoidance of setting rules and regulations on process and production methods that do not directly impact product safety. The FAO emphasizes a case-by-case assessment for gene-edited organisms, treating them similarly to GMOs, or conventional products.

2. Bio technology Usage (GMOs)

The FAO discourages imposing unnecessary rules on production methods unrelated to product safety. Various gene-edited products, such as high oleic soy and disease-resistant rice, have been developed. The FAO asserts that existing This picture shows the difference between gene editing safety assessment processes can be and gene/genetic modification (BBC, 2023). applied to gene-edited foods. England recently passed the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act, regulating precision-bred plants and animals with gene editing. The aim is to enhance crop resilience, AFETY... reduce chemical usage, S D O O F CE IN N and create disease-resistant E V E REL S T animals. There are specific I AND examples revolving around the European government from here!

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GENETICS ELEVENCE IN FOOD SAFET R S T I Y...

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3. Metagenomics and Inheritance Samples (Genetic Material Recovered Directly from Environmental/Clinical Samples) Metagenics, being the genetic material recovered directly from environmental/clinical samples, is an impactful tool for food safety identification, allowing for a precise approach to pathogen detection, characterization, and identification processes.

The use of these tools is anticipated to revolutionize modern food safety concepts, akin to the impact of personalized medicine in human health. Therefore, foreseeing a future characterized as "precision food safety," leveraging innovative approaches. Omics tools, in particular, will play a crucial role, enhancing food safety procedures, enabling more precise risk assessments, and supporting evidence-based decisionmaking in food safety (Jasna Kovak, 2017).

Specifically, one can look into whole genome sequencing when touching in high levels of precision improving detection in foodborne disease outbreaks. Looking over comprehensive characteristics of these foodborne diseases in regard to pathogens and the identifying process of clonal groups that differ in antimicrobial resistance (Laura Grande NCBI, 2014).

As whole-genome sequencing (WGS) gains popularity for routine surveillance of specific foodborne pathogens, the assessment of the feasibility of metagenomics and metatranscriptomics for pathogen detection in both food and humans is in its early stages.

THE F.A.Q. SEGMENT: nty asked questions freque

T FOOD SAFET Y ABOU 1.Should I wash my produce with soap and water?

No. The USDA advises those who purchase produce to not wash their fruits or vegetables in soap or any kind of chemical detergents. The FDA has not approved or labeled these cleaning products for use on food. Produce absorbed soap or detergent residues could be consumed. Clean fresh produce (potatoes, carrots, etc.) with a vegetable brush while it's cool alongside running water (IOWA State University, 2021).

2. What are some foods that are more prone to allergic symptoms?

More than 170 types of food are more prone to mediated food allergies. In the US, these eight foods account for more than 90% of the area's food allergies. Those being, milk, eggs, shellfish, wheat, soy, peanuts and tree nuts. So, the genetic transfers of these foods into those that are not very open to allergy symptoms may result in such reactions to the body. Yet, everyone is different when it comes to all kinds of foods nonetheless (National Institute of Health, 2021).

3. What are ways one can mitigate a risk to food safety when buying their produce?

The four steps of Cleaning, separating, Cooking and Chilling will allow for a mitigation of problematic aspects within the food Handling, Preparing and Storing. It is something one can control in comparison to the 3 aspects of food safety that we have zero contribution to. Yet, as soon as we have the purchased items and food ingredients, these are 3 steps that can be taken to mitigate any issues in the process of the food getting to our grocers.

4. How can one foresee the effects of biotechnological foods as a whole? What are some of these effects itself?

It is important to note that there is ongoing research and implementation going on right now, yet as a whole in regard to the biotechnological aspects of our food in Ontario; breaking it down to be 3 main areas of potential concern. The nutritional consistency of the crops or livestock itself, the extension of certain agricultural production practices (i.e, pesticide usage leading to chemical residues in food and water), and the levels of naturally occurring toxins in the crops/livestock. One can foresee these main problematic effects of biotechnological foods by buying organic and verified non-GMO for these reasons, if a concern (National Research Council, 1988).

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