Food safety has always been and will always be a baseline expectation of consumers and a key factor for grain quality for both domestic and international sales, but the importance of grain safety assurance (quality assurance for toxic substances) for international wheat marketing is relatively recent. Before the mid-1960s, food safety was not a major issue for consumers, and customer demands for quality assurance of grain for toxic substances were rare. Until this time, the general assumption was that the fitness for consumption of grains, and consequently grain products, was guarded by grain grading and inspection systems. These systems generally included tolerance limits for hazardous foreign materials such as ergot, fertilizer pellets, glass, and excreta and inspection protocols to prevent food safety hazards such as treated seed from finding their way into food channels. In the early 1960s, around the time that Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, scientists, health authorities, traders, processors, and consumers awoke to the possibility that food might not be as safe as previously assumed. More and more scientific papers were published and media reports started to appear about the different types of chemical and biological hazards that could contaminate foods and the risks that these substances pose for food safety, even at very low concentrations. The first signs that food safety could become an important issue for international grain marketing started to appear in the mid-1960s, but it took until the mid-1970s for the issue to become firmly established in the grain industry. The industry came to realize that the visually based grading and inspection systems implemented by grain-producing countries to regulate grain standards and grading practices could provide only limited protection regarding food safety. These systems could provide adequate protection from gross-level contamination with some types of toxic substances, but they afforded little protection from chemical and biological substances of concern to health authorities at the levels of parts per million (ppm, mg/kg) and parts per billion (ppb, µg/kg). Since the mid-1970s, the frequency and complexity of demands directed at wheat suppliers by importers and processors for food safety assurances has been rising steadily. Today, for international wheat sales, customer demands for grain safety assurance are more the norm than the exception. To say that food safety has added a complicating dimension to grain trading is an understatement. Fitness for consumption and the ability to meet established safety standards are now, without question, the most critical conditions for the sale of raw wheat and wheat products. Wheat suppliers must be ever mindful of the fragile nature of consumer confidence and trust on food safety matters. In recent years, incidents, mostly affecting meat, vegetables, and fruit, have clearly demonstrated how quickly consumer confidence and trust can be lost and the marketing nightmares that can be incurred, not only when legitimate problems are experienced but also when alarm bells are sounded because of false allegations and perceived problems. The spiraling importance of food safety that started in the middle of the twentieth century has made grain safety assurance an integral aspect of grain marketing in the twentyfirst century. Never before has quality assurance of grain for toxic substances been more important to wheat importers and processors, and, consequently, never before has it been more important for wheat suppliers to exercise due diligence on food safety matters and to have the ability to manage safety hazards, reassure customers about food safety concerns, and provide the types of grain safety documents needed to further international trade. These elements constitute the essence of grain safety assurance. This chapter examines the major aspects of grain safety assurance for durum wheat and its end products, including the major food safety issues for international wheat marketing, driving factors and trends, complicating factors, basic strategies of grain safety assurance, the analytical process, and the effect of processing on retention of toxic substances in wheat.
Grain Safety Assurance, Including Impacts on Durum Wheat Trading
Pascale M.
2012
Abstract
Food safety has always been and will always be a baseline expectation of consumers and a key factor for grain quality for both domestic and international sales, but the importance of grain safety assurance (quality assurance for toxic substances) for international wheat marketing is relatively recent. Before the mid-1960s, food safety was not a major issue for consumers, and customer demands for quality assurance of grain for toxic substances were rare. Until this time, the general assumption was that the fitness for consumption of grains, and consequently grain products, was guarded by grain grading and inspection systems. These systems generally included tolerance limits for hazardous foreign materials such as ergot, fertilizer pellets, glass, and excreta and inspection protocols to prevent food safety hazards such as treated seed from finding their way into food channels. In the early 1960s, around the time that Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, scientists, health authorities, traders, processors, and consumers awoke to the possibility that food might not be as safe as previously assumed. More and more scientific papers were published and media reports started to appear about the different types of chemical and biological hazards that could contaminate foods and the risks that these substances pose for food safety, even at very low concentrations. The first signs that food safety could become an important issue for international grain marketing started to appear in the mid-1960s, but it took until the mid-1970s for the issue to become firmly established in the grain industry. The industry came to realize that the visually based grading and inspection systems implemented by grain-producing countries to regulate grain standards and grading practices could provide only limited protection regarding food safety. These systems could provide adequate protection from gross-level contamination with some types of toxic substances, but they afforded little protection from chemical and biological substances of concern to health authorities at the levels of parts per million (ppm, mg/kg) and parts per billion (ppb, µg/kg). Since the mid-1970s, the frequency and complexity of demands directed at wheat suppliers by importers and processors for food safety assurances has been rising steadily. Today, for international wheat sales, customer demands for grain safety assurance are more the norm than the exception. To say that food safety has added a complicating dimension to grain trading is an understatement. Fitness for consumption and the ability to meet established safety standards are now, without question, the most critical conditions for the sale of raw wheat and wheat products. Wheat suppliers must be ever mindful of the fragile nature of consumer confidence and trust on food safety matters. In recent years, incidents, mostly affecting meat, vegetables, and fruit, have clearly demonstrated how quickly consumer confidence and trust can be lost and the marketing nightmares that can be incurred, not only when legitimate problems are experienced but also when alarm bells are sounded because of false allegations and perceived problems. The spiraling importance of food safety that started in the middle of the twentieth century has made grain safety assurance an integral aspect of grain marketing in the twentyfirst century. Never before has quality assurance of grain for toxic substances been more important to wheat importers and processors, and, consequently, never before has it been more important for wheat suppliers to exercise due diligence on food safety matters and to have the ability to manage safety hazards, reassure customers about food safety concerns, and provide the types of grain safety documents needed to further international trade. These elements constitute the essence of grain safety assurance. This chapter examines the major aspects of grain safety assurance for durum wheat and its end products, including the major food safety issues for international wheat marketing, driving factors and trends, complicating factors, basic strategies of grain safety assurance, the analytical process, and the effect of processing on retention of toxic substances in wheat.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
