Reference no: EM133191703 , Length: Word count: 400 words

Assignment Task:

1.   In the past 25 years an increase in international trade creating more complex food chains results in more opportunity for food to be contaminated and then transported across borders (WHO, 2022). As societies develop and change their diets to include higher protein levels, the mass farming and reproduction of poultry and fish continue to expand (Newell et al., 2010). Through this mass farming, the use of antibiotics in the animals we eat allows food borne diseases to adapt and become immune to the antibiotics used to treat them (Newell et al., 2010). This added with the differences in standardization across the globe, set the stage for food borne illness adaptation and growth disregarding the political and socioeconomic factors involved.

In the past 25 years, the issues regarding the burden of food borne illnesses consist of reporting, the scope in the data collected, and the constantly emerging new illnesses which are mainly zoonotic (Newell et al., 2010). To combat this WHO has created the Codex Alimentarius which is explained by WHO (2022) as "a nongovernmental interagency organization tasked with creating food standards, guidelines, and codes of practice that contributes to the safety, quality, and fairness of the international food trade". WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization collaborated to create the International Food Safety Authorities Network which shares information during food safety emergencies (WHO, 2022).

The burden of food borne illnesses will decrease with higher restrictions on antibiotic and growth hormone use, better established reporting methods of food borne illnesses, and improving the data collection process on food borne illnesses.

2.  The global burden of food-borne diseases has historically been dominated by poor and developing countries such as Africa and South-East Asia Regions (WHO, 2015). However, within the last several decades, there has been expanding access to perishable food items across the globe because of the streamlined logistics of food transportation. Disease epidemics also follow the distribution of food when precautionary measures are not adhered to during the entire process of farm, to factory, to a distributor, to consumption. In the past 25 years, a triad of conditions has made the 'global kitchen' a pathway for disease to spread to epidemic and pandemic levels. International trade, as just discussed, has increased substantially allowing more opportunities for disease-causing agents to travel between countries.

Intensification and economies of scale are also part of the triad of contemporary food-borne illness outbreaks. To keep food abundant and affordable, large agricultural farms and processing plants create ideal conditions for outbreaks of disease. Crowded conditions among animals, runoff from animal waste into water sources and adjacent agricultural fields create a rich environment for bacteria and viruses. Epidemiologists have worried for decades about the inevitable consequences of modern food production, which is a driver of disease (IOM, 2009). World demand for animal protein is increasing, and projections for consumption are staggering. Between 2000 and 2030, global meat production is expected to increase by approximately 1.5 percent per year (IOM, 2009). To meet this demand, intensification, and economies of scale have been on the rise over the past 25 years, as have environmental degradation and epidemics.

Food safety management along food chains prevents diseases and trade disruptions is guided by Codex Alimentarius. Based on sound research and science, the Codex texts issue risk-based food safety management guidelines to 188 countries and the European Union. However, noncompliance with Codex Standards does occur and food-borne illness can be the result of noncompliance. In the past 20 years, the international membership of The Codex Alimentarius Commission has grown significantly (WHO & FAO, 2022).

Question: Discuss one point you like/agree with, and one point you dislike/disagree with and explain why. 

Responses must be at least 200 words; four or more sentences.