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systems. Governments can intervene in a number of ways,
including through regulation, that cause those in the food
supply chain to make changes to their business practices in
an attempt to improve food safety outcomes. Changes made
to regulation, or the way business is conducted, may result in
innovation in food safety (rather than increased attention to
already established practice).
Innovation in food safety is always required in the event
of newly recognized hazards or newly recognized foods as
sources of illness. Food safety is a relative, rather than absolute,
concept; there is always a chance that a serving of food will
cause an adverse reaction, or illness. The relative nature of food
safety risk is reflected in regular reports of the incidence of
foodborne disease from well-known pathogens as well as from
emerging hazards (41, 42). Disease is attributed to foods that
have a long historic record of association with illness, as well as
to unexpected foods, as demonstrated by occasional outbreaks
caused by foods that would usually be considered safe (15).
Consumers and their representatives, such as customers
or businesses purchasing food, may also demand food safety
(47, 48). Governments respond to such demands to protect
citizens by encouraging industry development and by making
policies that they expect to gain or retain public confidence
in the food supply. Laws and regulations define acceptable
practices and systems in the hope that implementation will
meet consumer expectations. For over one hundred years,
governments have been sufficiently concerned about the
quality and safety of food supplied to citizens to enact broad
legislation that has placed responsibilities on food businesses
and has set requirements on their activities (47).
Improvements to food safety through innovation is a
knowledge-based activity. Knowledge about products,
processes, safe sources of supply, and systems of production
need to be possessed, implemented effectively by the
business, and capable of being demonstrated to customers
and/or regulatory authorities. Knowledge, understanding,
and practice are essential ingredients of a safe food supply.
Practice is heavily dependent on understanding the hazards
and the food supply chain, which in turn is dependent
upon scientific knowledge, from the creation of knowledge
through to its adoption. Many scientists are employed in
the area of food safety, funded by both government and
industry. Most research is in the public domain because the
research is not easily valued (and therefore, not subject to
intellectual property protection) and because it potentially
benefits all stakeholders when actions are taken to improve
food safety.
Responsible participants in the industry invest heavily
in knowledgeable staff, product development, packaging
design, storage and distribution infrastructure, quality
control systems, certification, and licenses before they
commence a business operation. Staying in business
requires attention to product safety and, among other
things, maintaining a good reputation and having a
favorable status with regulators.

Joseph Schumpeter defined five types of innovation over
100 years ago (45), and these are still being used for analysis
by the OECD (1). While food safety professionals think
about their work as leading to changes in product formulation,
processes, or procedures, it is useful to consider how the
changes are perceived by businesses and consumers, because
this leads to an understanding of how change needs to be
implemented. The types can all be applied to food safety:
* New products and product qualities; the product may
be new because the product has been reformulated (33).
For example, a preservative maybe added to the product,
either a completely new ingredient or one that has been
used previously only in other products or that has been
used only at a lower (ineffective) concentration.
* New production methods; a new process may be used to
produce an existing product (14). For example, pasteurization may have been used but with a different combination of time and temperature, or newer technology
may be used, such as the application of high pressure or
electromagnetic fields.
* New sources of supply; the food producing businesses
may find a new, safer source of supply for a significant
ingredient (33). For example, supply chain relationships
may change and private quality assurance standards may
be implemented (19).
* Exploitation of new markets; the business may choose
to sell their product only to certain customers for certain
uses to ensure that it is rendered safe for consumers (49).
* New ways to organize business; the business may be
organized in a different way, such as empowering staff
to consistently take actions that result in subtle process
changes that make food safer (53).
HOW CAN INNOVATION PROCESSES BE
UNDERSTOOD?
A number of models have been employed in an attempt to
explain the innovation process (2). A popular model in the
scientific community and in product development has been
the linear model (Fig. 1), with stages emphasizing the significance of basic research as the prerequisite for later applied
research and then development (3, 16). The linear model has
received much criticism, including the stinging rebuke that
it "is well suited to defend the interests of researchers and
scientists and the organizations in which they work" (13).
Models that are more sophisticated have been developed
that attempt to encompass the complexity of the innovation
process. In particular, systems approaches to innovation have
been developed to "describe, understand, explain - and perhaps influence - processes of innovation" (11) over the past
25 years. The systems approach has been defined in general
terms as including "all important economic, social, political,
organisation, institutional, and other factors that influence
the development, diffusion, and use of innovations" (11).

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