Food Protection Trends - December 2009 - 836

from your president “vickie's view” I had the opportunity to attend IAFP’s Fifth European Symposium on food safety, held in Berlin, Germany, October 7–9, 2009. It was a very good meeting, clearly fulfilling IAFP’s mission: “To provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply.” The symposium was successful, thanks in large part to the efforts of the organizing committee, led by Dr. Michele Storrs. It takes a vast amount of time to plan a meeting as comprehensive as this one. It also takes financial resources, and I’ll take this opportunity to once again thank the symposium sponsors for their generosity. The presentations and posters were excellent and generated a lot of engaging and open discussion. There was one presentation, however, that I found to be particularly thoughtprovoking, entitled, “Food Safety versus Food Security: A Global Challenge.” This presentation by Ms. Sarah Cahill of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, was a little unique in that it was not just about food safety, but more so about the affect of food safety on food security. (IAFP members can find Ms. Cahill’s presentation at www.foodprotection. org/events/european-symposia/53/ speaker-presentations.) What impressed me about the talk was Sarah’s obvious passion and dedication to this issue, which was conveyed not only in her words but in the strength of her voice. She began by defining food security as the access to a safe and secure food supply. “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO World Food Summit, 1996). This very basic human right has long been recognized, yet the number of undernourished people By VICKIE LEWANDOWSKI PRESIDENT “Food safety is a contributing, integral part of food security” continues to rise. According to the FAO, there were approximately 848 million undernourished people in 2005 and that number increased to approximately 923 million in 2009, with a projection of 963 million undernourished in 2010. I’m sure there may be a couple of “logical” reasons such as worldwide population increase or natural disasters. But with all of the amazing advances in food technology and agricultural practices and processes, how can this number continue to grow at this rate? This is an issue that is near and dear to my heart. I have spent time in countries where there is little or no food security and the standard of living is sub-par. On every October 16 since 2001, my family celebrates my son Max’s birthday, and coincidentally, on that same day we celebrate his adoption day. Max was adopted from an impoverished orphanage in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Russia is a country that deals with poverty, lack of food security and malnutrition on a daily basis. Each year, on October 16, I am grateful that Max is now fortunate to have access to a sufficient supply of safe and nutritious food, unlike so many of the children that were left behind in his orphanage and countless others all over the world. Although malnourished eight years ago, today Max is a thriving, healthy nine-yearold! Now, I’m not advocating that everybody run out and adopt a child from a developing country, but there are definitely other things that we, as food safety professionals can be doing to make an impact on food security issues. Is it really food safety versus food security? Ms. Cahill concisely pointed out that the two are in fact very much entwined, that food safety is a contributing, integral part of food security. Three main ways that food safety contributes to food security were detailed: (1) prevention and reduction of foodborne illness among already vulnerable populations; (2) reducing food losses, and increasing available food; and (3) increasing market access, thereby increasing purchasing power. It is likely that for the majority of us, our day-to-day activities do not directly influence these three areas for those in developing countries. Fortunately, programs and partnerships exist to facilitate our desire to help. A great example is Kraft’s partnership with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program, called the Corporate/ Private Sector Program (CPSP). The UNV is the volunteer arm of the United Nations and has provided hands-on-assistance in at least 140 countries since 1970. Through 836 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | DECEMBER 2009

http://www.foodprotection.org/events/european-symposia/53/speaker-presentations http://www.foodprotection.org/events/european-symposia/53/speaker-presentations

Food Protection Trends - December 2009

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