What the Covid-19 pandemic may change in our Food Safety approaches?

Figure 5: SINNER cycle

HACCP [5, 6]

WHO has made it clear that for the time being no transmission via food or its packaging has been demonstrated and is considered as negligible for transmission of Covid-19, which remains primarily transmitted from person to person via expired droplets. Should Covid 19 be excluded from the list of hazards to be taken into account in a HACCP approach?  
Considering the uncertainties and concerns of consumers (can the surface of this packaging be contaminated by the Covid-19 virus, can my RTE food be contaminated by the virus?) it seems useful at this stage to include the SARS-CoV-2 in the list of viruses to be taken into account in the risk assessment by professionals in the food industry in addition to Norovirus and Hepatitis A/E virus, even if the risks and control measures may differ. It is also important to consider the effectiveness of treatment and conservation methods for the destruction of SARS-CoV-2. Sanitizing processes have yet to be validated on this virus but the coronavirus family seems fragile enough that conventional heat treatments are sufficient to destroy them. However, it has been shown that freezing allows the coronavirus to survive for several months. This crisis is perhaps the opportunity to integrate more widely viruses in the risk assessment of companies. More generally, the HACCP method is adapted to assess the risks and define the measures of control and validation / surveillance / verification associated with the SARS-CoV-2 hazard. In this regard, SARS-CoV-2 testing on surface can be used as a risk assessment tool or to validate corrective measures in complement to traditional hygiene indicators testing.

Food Sustainability [7,8]

In a period where sustainable development is considered essential by consumers, the impact of the Covid-19 crisis is interacting with the following three components (figure 6), namely:
 

Economic component: The economic crisis which emerges in parallel with the health crisis will deeply disturb the local, regional and international balances and this for many years. Consumption patterns are likely to be permanently modified and the company will have to adapt to these changes.

Societal component: The activities of the food chain feeding the population and the solidarity actions towards the health sector have already been acknowledged during the acute phase of this crisis. In the long term, taking into account public health issues, including nutrition, will be more than ever a priority for the food supply chains. Local and national supply must also be considered from this perspective.
 

Ecological component: The national debate already exists on this subject. At a time when bulk distribution and the complete elimination of packaging is being questioned in regards to barrier measures, the Covid-19 hazard must be integrated into the current approaches. Recycling and compostability are more than ever on the top of agenda. Local sourcing has emerged for many consumers or companies as a strong point in this period of acute crisis and is an opportunity to limit the environmental impact. More than ever, consumer expectations in this area will be high. Sustainable development approaches will therefore have to be revalidated by integrating the short, medium and long-term consequences of the Covid-19 crisis.

It is now recognized that emerging diseases often originate from countries with threatened ecosystems. 

Also, in recent years, with the multiplication of trade and travel, an increase in the prevalence of emerging or resurgent diseases has been noted in both humans and animals. The majority of these diseases affect several species, and about 75% are zoonotic, emerging at the confluence of wildlife, domestic animals and/or humans. Several questions arise: What are the main risks of introduction: travelers? animals? food? vectors? What is the role of ongoing climate change?

As mentioned above, fruit bats harbor coronaviruses, but many other viruses such as rabies, Ebola, and Nipah in significant quantities without getting sick. It is not the fact that the Chinese eat bats that is the most dangerous, but that they are in very close contact with them and other animal species. In a market that closely mixes humans and live animals, the virus circulates at a high density, and people can become infected through the respiratory tract. As a reminder, the coronavirus is an RNA virus, which means that it mutates a lot.

Figure 6: Sustainability in Food Systems (SFS) – FAO 2018

 

Food Fraud [9]

Food fraud in its various forms often feeds on crises, supply tensions and imbalances between supply and demand. Moreover, the acute crisis of the Covid-19 induces derogations to ensure the continuity of supplies which must be temporary, traced and framed. In this context, there has been an increase in the number of reported cases of fraud. This should therefore lead to the updating of vulnerability studies in connection with the acute and medium-term crisis that is looming. The fraud risk must therefore be integrated into the evaluation of the resilience of suppliers in relation to this and future crises.
Food Defense [10,11]
The steps taken to protect companies against deliberate malicious acts grouped under the name of food defense will also interact with the Covid-19 crisis: Indeed, the exceptional measures implemented by many companies in an emergency to deal with the current crisis, such as the exceptional company shutdown, require many site security measures that can be integrated into the existing procedures. The uncertainty linked to sites reopening and effective de-containment measures related to personal information in relationship with the risk of occurrence of cases of Covid-19 for people entering the sites (country/area visited, health status, etc.) may also be related to measures to control people with access to the production site and sensitive areas for reasons other than the health control of Covid-19. Personal data protection and individual liberties are important topics in this context.

 

Food Safety Culture [12,13]

 

Highlighted in recent years as the ultimate approach enabling companies to deploy a coherent approach at different levels of the company by sharing the vision and beliefs related to food safety, this "Food Safety Culture" approach is more relevant than ever. Indeed, companies hit by the Covid-19 crisis (fear for everyone's health, tomorrow’s uncertainty, questions about the relevance of the measures taken...) must absolutely align all their human forces to understand the control measures and succeed in applying them for food safety  as well as for the protection of the health of employees, suppliers, co-manufacturers and customers facing the Covid-19 risk. Companies that have this safety culture will more easily survive the current crisis and the months to come.