Safe by design approach for food safety

Food Business Operators are responsible for the safety of their products. Compromised food safety may lead to severe consequences. In time, food production processes are subject to change, driven by new ingredients, consumer trends or legislation. This creates a need for continuous assessment for food safety. 

Hazard identification

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has performed extensive literature-based reviews on the microbiological and chemical hazards of a large number of food chains, of animal and plant-origin. One such an example is the identification of microbiological and chemical hazards for the potato chain. 

Acrylamide was identified as the major chemical hazard related to potato products such as French fries and crisps [1]. Furthermore, there are concerns related to glycoalkaloids and cadmium and lead, especially when potatoes are consumed with the skin. Microbiological hazards most relevant for the potato chain are the spore forming pathogens Bacillus cereus and Clostridium botulinum [2], commonly present in the soil. These spores can survive mild processing and grow out if the storage conditions allow. Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes can also be potentially relevant but are more likely to be introduced as a re-contamination. However, potato products are expected to have very limited attribution to the disease burden in the Netherlands. 

Hazard identification has also been performed for other food supply chains, including the dairy [3] and poultry chains [4], and 7 different crop chains (not public yet).

Safe by design approach for food safety

Many food producers seek to perform an automated hazard identification in a structured, transparent, and reproducible way at an early stage of product design. At WUR, researchers are developing a digital tool to use the available knowledge for this purpose. This tool facilitates the process of hazard analysis for composite food products, including the food chain from raw material till the end product. By linking information on the hazards to product ingredients in an ingredient hazard database, a hazard profile can be created for (new) composite product formulations. The influences of the production process and storage conditions also taken into account. A prototype tool which provides automated support for this process has been developed. 

‘Reverse engineering’ principle 

Reverse Engineering is a way of working when the properties of the final product are first being defined, and used as a starting point for designing the processes for new product development [5]. 

Traditionally food product development involved a limited number of criteria, such as safety and quality. Within the Reverse Engineering project [6], information for food safety is used in more complex decision making by integration along with other criteria, such as nutritional value, economic feasibility and sustainability. 

Multi-Criteria Assessment Platform (MCAP)

Different WUR groups joined their knowledge in different areas to build an automated decision support system named as MCAP. The principle of reverse engineering is central in this tool. This system helps the food producer in decision making in the areas of safety, nutritional value, economic feasibility, sustainability and consumer perception. Finding the optimal combination of outcomes of these criteria, without compromise on food safety, will largely determine the success rate of the new food products and their consumer acceptance. 

Plant-based burgers were selected as use case to build the platform. For estimation of food safety criteria, the first step is identification of the possible chemical and microbiological hazards based on the ingredients and processing steps. The other criteria are also being evaluated along the food chain. Consumer perception of plant protein sources was obtained from a survey and is also included as one of the criteria. In the end, the platform integrates these criteria and makes it possible to compare plant burgers with different ingredients and processing types. This helps the producer to make informed choices at an early stage of product development. For example, it can be seen if the choice of ingredients and the resulting sustainability of the product are acceptable and economically feasible for the stakeholder. The MCAP enables automatic scenario ranking for different formulations and making the desired choice for ingredients and processing types.

The envisioned prototype of the MCAP is currently under construction. WUR is actively seeking cooperation with food producers to adjust the tool to their specific needs, to validate the tool and make it more applicable for the food industry.

www.wur.com 

REFERENCES
[1] NIJKAMP ET AL., 2017. CHEMISCHE EN FYSISCHE GEVAREN IN DE NEDERLANDSE AARDAPPELKETEN.

[2] HAYRAPETYAN ET AL., 2018. MICROBIOLOGISCHE GEVAREN GERELATEERD AAN CONSUMPTIE VAN AARDAPPELPRODUCTEN. EEN LITERATUURSTUDIE. RAPPORT

[3] VAN ASSELT ET AL., 2017. OVERVIEW OF FOOD SAFETY HAZARDS IN THE EUROPEAN DAIRY SUPPLY CHAIN. COMPREHENSIVE REVIEWS IN FOOD SCIENCE AND FOOD SAFETY, 16(1), P59-75

[4] VAN BOKHORST-VAN DE VEEN ET AL., 2015. MICROBIOLOGISCHE GEVAREN IN DE PLUIMVEEVLEESKETEN: EEN LITERATUURSTUDIE MET ADDITIONELE INFORMATIE VAN STAKEHOLDERS.

[5] THOMOPOULOS ET AL., 2019. MULTI-CRITERIA REVERSE ENGINEERING FOR FOOD: GENESIS AND ONGOING ADVANCES. FOOD ENGINEERING REVIEWS (2019) 11:44–60.

[6] REVERSE ENGINEERING PROJECT, PART OF THE LNV FUNDED PROGRAM HEALTHY AND SAFE FOOD SYSTEM; KB37. ‘GEZONDE EN VEILIGE PRODUCTIE OP BASIS VAN REVERSE DESIGN’

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