Food is key to achieving and maintaining good health — and to promote healthy behaviors, food must be accessible and safe. Anything less can increase the challenges to communities and individuals who seek to be healthy and well-nourished.
Public health professionals play a vital role in maintaining a high level of food safety and security. It’s an important area of focus, as food safety impacts people of every age, race, gender and income level. There are several key elements of food safety for officials to consider, from rapidly advancing technology and growing worries over food security, to lingering post-pandemic impacts and persistent concerns over chemicals. Public health professionals with the right education should fully understand the importance of food safety and its impacts on society.
Why Is Food Safety Important?
Maintaining a consistent level of food safety is critical to a fully functioning society. Consuming unsafe foods or not having access to food can have profound negative ramifications and cause a plethora of public health issues. As of 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 1 in 6 Americans fall ill each year due to contaminated food, and around 3,000 Americans die annually because of various foodborne illnesses.
The impact of food safety issues can also carry an economic impact, as falling ill from unsafe foods can lead to a loss of work productivity and increases in medical expenses. According to the CDC, the U.S. incurs a cost of around $15.6 billion annually due to foodborne illnesses.
Public health officials are in a position to be stewards of food safety. They can minimize food safety through coordinated efforts with state and local health departments and federal agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service.
4 Food-Related Public Health Issues
The challenges to food safety and security cover a broad scope, and this means they can impact communities and individuals differently. The scope of these challenges can also be fluid, as new threats to food safety may emerge to create new issues. As such, public health officials must be aware of the key food safety issues as they arise and as they evolve, so they can effectively minimize their impact.
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is a term ascribed to a socioeconomic condition where a household has uncertain or limited access to adequate food. It’s a situation shaped by complex factors, including employment, income, racial inequities and neighborhood conditions. Lack of transportation to grocery stores or the proliferation of “food deserts” — areas with limited access to full-service grocery stores — can also fuel the issue.
The USDA divides food insecurity into two separate classifications. The first, low food security, indicates “reduced quality, variety or desirability of diet” with “little to no indication of reduced food intake.” The second, very low food security, indicates “multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.”
Food insecurity is a widespread issue that carries a disproportionate impact. A USDA study found 10.2% of American households experienced food insecurity at one point in 2021, a percentage that translates to 13.5 million individuals. That included 26.5% of low-income households; 19.8% of Black, non-Hispanic households; and 16.2% of Hispanic households.
The New Era of Smarter Food Safety
In 2020, the FDA launched a blueprint called the New Era of Smarter Food Safety. Its goal is to use technology to improve food safety. This strategy advances the objectives put forth by the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act by providing public health officials with more ways to address food safety proactively.
The blueprint features the following four core elements.
- Tech-Enabled Traceability: Creates a system that allows for the rapid tracking of food, enabling public health officials to find foods that may cause outbreaks with greater efficiency
- Smarter Outbreak Response Tools: Combine root-cause analyses of past outbreaks with predictive analytics to predict future outbreaks, allowing public health officials to take steps to prevent outbreaks before they occur
- Food Safety Culture: Encourages and promotes a culture that acknowledges the importance of food safety
- Retail Modernization: Seeks to integrate food safety with online grocery services by educating key points on the supply chain about safety practices
Modern technologies are also having an impact on food safety. Safety in online food shopping is becoming increasingly important, as trends suggest that Gen Zers are having a greater influence on retail shopping as they enter adulthood. According to Food Insight’s 2022 Food and Health Survey, 35% of adults aged 18–24 grocery shopped online at least once a week in 2022. Overall, 25% of American adults shopped for groceries online at least once a week.
Chemical Contaminants in Food
Chemical contaminants such as food additives and food preservatives remain a top concern not only for public health officials but also for consumers. The 2022 Food Insight survey noted 48% of polled consumers listed chemicals as their chief food safety concern, the eighth year in a row that this particular subject topped the list. In this case, “chemicals” represented a host of sub-categories, including cancer-causing chemicals, pesticides, food additives and ingredients and heavy metals.
Another longstanding concern is bisphenol A (BPA), a food and beverage packaging chemical. While many individual countries have restricted its use, its continued use in other countries draws concern. These worries come in the wake of studies suggesting correlations between BPA and asthma in school-age girls.
The Lingering Impact of COVID-19
Public health officials played vital roles during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID-19 was not spread through food, the pandemic did encourage the food industry to improve awareness of food hygiene and virus transmission. These practices, such as an increased focus on proper hand-washing, food and utensil washing, cooking temperatures and guarding against food cross-contamination, have remained in place as the pandemic wanes. This promises to help mitigate the spread of other pathogens.
The pandemic also exponentially increased food deliveries, which ballooned to a $150 billion global industry in 2021 — more than three times the total in 2017, according to McKinsey & Company. This growth caused consumers to consider other aspects of food safety, such as possible tampering and delays in grocery storage.
Promote the Importance of Food Safety as a Public Health Professional
Knowledge is power when it comes to keeping people safe from foodborne illnesses. Public health professionals are uniquely positioned to help inform and educate the public about the importance of food safety, as well as any persistent and evolving concerns. They can apply their skills to prepare the population to face foodborne illnesses before they can become major health crises.
USC’s online Master of Public Health program can help you take a bold step toward a career in public health. The program offers personalized guidance from public health thought leaders, giving you access to insights on topics such as environmental science and health and human behavior. Additionally, you can specialize your studies by choosing one of five concentrations: Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Community Health Promotion, Health Services and Policy, Global Health and Generalist.
Find out how USC can prepare you for a rewarding career in public health.
Recommended Readings
Choosing the Right Diet for Your Health
The Importance of Disease Prevention
Social Justice and Public Health in 2022
Sources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC’s Role in Food Safety
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food Delivery Safety
CNN, BPA Linked to asthma in School-Age Girls, Study Finds
Environmental Defense Fund, FDA Agrees to Reconsider Safety of BPA in Food Packaging
Food Insight, 2022 Food and Health Survey
FoodSafety.gov, 4 Steps to Food Safety
Healthy People 2030, Food Insecurity
Mayo Clinic, What Is BPA, and What Are the Concerns About BPA?
McKinsey & Company, Ordering In: The Rapid Evolution of Food Delivery
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Security Status of U.S. Households in 2021
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Supply Chain
U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Food Imports
U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service, Food Safety
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, New Era of Smarter Food Safety