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Structured Review and Expert Opinions on Early Warning and Rapid Alert System Applicable to Food Safety

Technical report, 26 September 2013










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    Making food systems more resilient to food safety risks by including artificial intelligence, big data, and internet of things into food safety early warning and emerging risk identification tools 2024
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    To enhance the resilience of food systems to food safety risks, it is vitally important for national authorities and international organizations to be able to identify early signals of emerging food safety risks and to provide early warning in a timely manner. This review provides an overview of existing and experimental applications of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and internet of things tools and methods as part of early warning and emerging risk identification in the food safety domain. There is an ongoing rapid development of systems fed by numerous, real-time, and diverse data with the aim of early warning and identification of emerging food safety risks. The suitability of big data and AI to support such systems is illustrated by two cases in which climate change drives the emergence of risks, namely, harmful algal blooms affecting seafood and fungal growth and mycotoxin formation in crops. Automation and machine learning are crucial for the development of future real-time food safety risk early warning systems. Although these developments and tools increase the feasibility and effectiveness of prospective early warning and emerging risk identification, their implementation may prove challenging, particularly for low- and middle-income countries due to low connectivity and data availability. It is advocated to overcome these challenges by improving the capability and capacity of national authorities, as well as by enhancing their collaboration with the private sector and international organizations.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Technical book
    Early warning tools and systems for emerging issues in food safety
    Technical background
    2023
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    Early warning (EW) systems have a critical role in the reduction of risks from various hazards. The capability and capacity to identify early signals and emerging food safety risks, and to provide on-time EW that would allow for the mitigation of related upcoming risks have therefore become vital for national and international authorities and organizations dealing with food safety. The developments in early warning systems show a shift from reactive towards proactive systems. With the rapid development of modern systems fed by numerous, real-time and diverse data, as well as the advancements achieved in artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, increasingly tested and validated digital methods and models have become available for food safety early warning and analysis. This technical background report enhances the awareness of the available evidence-based innovative digital tools and provides technical background information to support their use for proactive food safety early warning.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Technical book
    Enhancing Early Warning Capabilities and Capacities for Food Safety 2016
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    Worldwide, food safety incidents can have a significant impact on public health, economies, agrifood trade, food security, and public confidence in the food supply. The prevention, mitigation, and management of food safety incidents globally can be enhanced through more effective early warning systems for food safety. Early warning systems help countries to better anticipate food safety threats and respond quicker through appropriate risk management actions. This publication provides a resource for countries to enhance their early warning capabilities and capacities. It emphasizes the need to build and connect links between existing food safety infrastructure (e.g. surveillance and food control) and to improve collaborative relationships among all of the different food chain stakeholders in order to protect public health and the food supply.

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    Updates for many countries have made it possible to estimate hunger in the world with greater accuracy this year. In particular, newly accessible data enabled the revision of the entire series of undernourishment estimates for China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of the number of undernourished in the world. Nevertheless, the revision confirms the trend reported in past editions: the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge. There has been some progress for child stunting, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding, but at a pace that is still too slow. Childhood overweight is not improving and adult obesity is on the rise in all regions.The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue. Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators are also not on track to meet global nutrition targets. The food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups is likely to deteriorate further due to the health and socio economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.The report puts a spotlight on diet quality as a critical link between food security and nutrition. Meeting SDG 2 targets will only be possible if people have enough food to eat and if what they are eating is nutritious and affordable. The report also introduces new analysis of the cost and affordability of healthy diets around the world, by region and in different development contexts. It presents valuations of the health and climate-change costs associated with current food consumption patterns, as well as the potential cost savings if food consumption patterns were to shift towards healthy diets that include sustainability considerations. The report then concludes with a discussion of the policies and strategies to transform food systems to ensure affordable healthy diets, as part of the required efforts to end both hunger and all forms of malnutrition.
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    Pulses: nutritious seeds for a sustainable future 2016

    The aim of raising global awareness on the multitude of benefits of pulses was integral to the International Year of Pulses. This coffee table book is part guide and part cookbook— informative without being technical. The book begins by giving an overview of pulses, and explains why they are an important food for the future. It also has more than 30 recipes prepared by some of the most prestigious chefs in the world and is peppered with infographics. Part I gives an overview of pulses and giv es a brief guide to the main varieties in the world. Part II explains step-by-step how to cook them, what to keep in mind and what condiments and instruments to use. Part III underscores the five messages that FAO conveys to the world about the impact pulses have on nutrition, health, climate change, biodiversity and food security. Part IV illustrates how pulses can be grown in a garden patch with easy gardening instructions and how they are grown in the world, highlighting major world producers , importers and exporters. Part V takes the reader on a journey around the world showing how pulses fit a region’s history and culture and visits 10 internationally acclaimed chefs as they go the market to buy pulses. Back at their restaurant or home, each chef prepares easy dishes and gives their best kept secrets. Each chef provides 3 recipes that are beautifully illustrated.

    Purchase a print copy.

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    State of knowledge of soil biodiversity - Status, challenges and potentialities
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    There is increasing attention to the importance of biodiversity for food security and nutrition, especially above-ground biodiversity such as plants and animals. However, less attention is being paid to the biodiversity beneath our feet, soil biodiversity, which drives many processes that produce food or purify soil and water. This report is the result of an inclusive process involving more than 300 scientists from around the world under the auspices of the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership and its Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, and the European Commission. It presents concisely the state of knowledge on soil biodiversity, the threats to it, and the solutions that soil biodiversity can provide to problems in different fields. It also represents a valuable contribution to raising awareness of the importance of soil biodiversity and highlighting its role in finding solutions to today's global threats.