World Food Day

16 October 2014 was World Food Day. A day to celebrate the pleasure that food can give us, but also to focus on the challenges we face in terms of providing a well-balanced diet for the world’s population. It is a topic which occupies scientists from across the globe. The International Congress of Meat Science and Technology was held recently in Uruguay. Needless to say, sustainable production was one of the main themes. This edition includes a report on that event.

Scientists are not the only ones tackling this issue. On 23 September, at the Climate Summit in New York, The Netherlands launched a global alliance for greater food security through climate-smart agriculture. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister for Agriculture Sharon Dijksma jointly issued the starting signal for the alliance, which has already received backing from 75 countries and organisations such as the World Bank. An impressive achievement for such a small country!

In 2050, 9 billion mouths will need feeding. Continuation of the current production levels will result in a food shortage of 70%. One part of the solution lies in reducing food waste. Several concrete ways of doing so will be presented by a think tank of conceptual thinkers during the Food Waste Symposium in Amsterdam on 6 November.

Apart from food security, another hot topic is food safety. There have been several major scandals in recent years, the most high-profile case being the Salmonella thompson outbreak caused by eating contaminated smoked salmon. But that was not the only incident: the Dutch authorities NVWA and RIVM registered a total of 276 outbreaks in 2012. In response to the problems, the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament even organised a Round Table on Food Safety in early September attended by scientists, supervisory bodies and industry representatives. The starting point was that consumers have a right to safe food. And safe food is inextricably linked with optimal hygiene. Furthermore, good cleaning reduces the likelihood of waste – so that’s two flies with one stroke (purely figuratively speaking in this case!)

Judith Witte
 
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