Covid-19 has heightened fears about food safety and security

According to a survey conducted by Mars Global Food Security Center, food safety is among the top concerns of consumers in the Asia Pacific region. The study, conducted after the outbreak of the pandemic, shows that consumers are as concerned about food safety and security as they are about pollution or climate change, according to the director of the China-based center told Food Navigator.

“Covid-19 has also exacerbated fears about food safety, and 73 percent of respondents who are very concerned about this issue think the new coronavirus will impact the sustainability of the global supply chain and 71 percent think it will impact global food access”, he continued.

According to the site, the center is currently focusing on three main areas of food safety, namely mycotoxin risk management, particularly aflatoxin contamination, which is estimated to play a role in 28 percent of liver cancers worldwide; microbial risk management, to improve the treatment of microbial contamination; and food integrity, which involves food adulteration or fraud. “I think three of the major advances will be in the areas of genomics (the study of all of a person’s genes), megadata mining and advances in wearable devices.”