Discussing Food Safety Measures In Australia

The Project Aims

There are an estimated 4.1 million cases of food poisoning in Australia every year (Food Poisoning, 2018). Associated with food borne illnesses are substantial financial, medical and welfare costs. Many cases of food borne illnesses are largely avoidable. Whilst much investment goes to researching on the best ways to ensure food safety in the food chain’s early stages, such as vaccination of chicken to prevent Salmonella in eggs, the role played by the handlers of food is a critical risk point that needs intervention as well (Lasky, 2012).  Some practices are more likely to make previously uncontaminated food not safe for consumption, for instance, through cross-contamination; and make previously contaminated foods fit for consumption for instance through cooking them thoroughly (Rossvoll et al., 2013).

In the eve of the twenty-first century, there was an estimate that virtually all Australians would have had an experience with a food borne illness in a period of every four years (Hall, Kirk, & Becker, 2015). The economic costs that are incurred due to food poisoning are considerably high. The biggest cost of food poisoning in Australia is chiefly attributable to the negative effect on productivity and costs on the lifestyle of people. Also, the costs incurred due to food poisoning can be attributed to the premature death of the victims. This huge burden brought by food poisoning to Australians emphasizes why there is an urgent need to continue improving the safety of food in Australia.

Even though there are numerous challenges in improving the food safety in Australia, this report provides valuable information for changing the current condition of numerous reported food poisoning cases. The data provided in this report is also important in the development of the Australian public health policy. The report offers insight into the food safety in Australia and aid in evaluating nationwide intervention in reducing cases of food poisoning. Additionally, the information provided in this report is essential in figuring out and implementing the best strategies for controlling food poisoning incidences in Australia. Essentially, the information in the report provides a bigger and updated picture on the incidence of food poisoning in Australia. 

The aim of the study conducted for this report is to examine the changes, if any, that have occurred to the incidences of illnesses due to food poisoning over time and give insight into the food safety measures and food handling in Australia from the basic production level to the retail level. Essentially, the report aims to ultimately give recommendations for handling food with safely and subsequently reduce the number of food poisoning incidences in Australia.

The Research Questions

To effectively communicate this report’s aims, it is crucial to answer these research questions:

• What new measure of regulation can be enforced to prevent food borne illnesses?
• How can the manufacturing and agricultural practices be changed to improve the safety of the food that is produced?
• What are the best trends to be followed in food preparation for maximum food safety?
• What is the international food handling and distribution standards and does Australia match them?
• Are there emergent food infection causing pathogens observed in the study?
• Were there observable emergent strains of the commonly known infectious agents, similar to the agents resistant to antibiotics?

    Food borne illnesses is a public health concern that should be addressed with immediate urgency. Nevertheless, formulation of the appropriate mitigation measures can only be made possible if there’s adequate available information and research as a result of implementing of monitoring systems and constant surveillance (Fleet et al., 2010).

If an individual handling food is infected with a food borne illness disease causing pathogen and the pathogen can be transmitted through consumption of food, they are termed as having a food borne illness.  The infected individual could then transfer the illness causing pathogens to food when handling it and thus causing more infection to the people who consume it.

For food to be considered unfit for consumption and potentially hazardous to the health of the consumers, it has to meet the criteria mentioned below:

• The food may have a microorganism that multiplies and causes an infection; and
• The food supports growth of an infection causing pathogen.

Typically, the intrinsic characteristics of food such as its nutrient content, the moisture content and the acidity of the food and the way in which the food was processed usually affect the above-mentioned criteria.

The process in this report, in relation to handling of food, means the activity performed in preparation of food especially selling. Practices include; cooking, chopping, fermenting, drying, pasteurizing, washing and heating or combining all the above mentioned activities.

These requirements are put in place so as to ensure that the food handlers have the requisite food handling skills and knowledge. All food businesses are required to make sure that the individuals that undertake the food handling processes are:

1. Skilled in matters to do with food safety and food hygiene;
2. Knowledgeable of the critical food safety procedures and commensurate with all the safe food preparation activities.

The effects of food borne diseases are more far reaching and therefore, the safety of food that is consumed by citizens is very crucial (Hoffman, Maculloch & Batz, 2015). The importance of ensuring food safety in a nation cannot be overemphasized. This is because food safety affects a nation’s strength and sustainability, and hence should be carefully addressed.

 According to Swinnen (2018), a nation’s economy and the health of its people are directly related. Safe food energizes a nation and contributes immensely to its economy. Unsafe food on the other negatively impacts a nation’s economy by leaving its people sickly, weak and unable to work. It is because of the above reason that any nation needs food regulation measures so as to mitigate threat brought about by consumption of unsafe food.

Australia has, for a long time, been working towards uniform legislation in food handling, preparation and selling. This development of uniform food legislation was driven largely by numerous imperatives such as:

• Reducing the inefficiencies and inconsistencies experienced in the State and Territorial legislation;
• Reducing the costs incurred in food regulation procedures on the food industry in Australia.
• The huge rise in food borne diseases (Martin et al., 2003).

Literature Review

The Australian authorities, in response to the rising food poisoning cases, put in place measures to ensure food safety. The measures are chiefly intended to make the food handlers to take precautionary measures to avoid compromising the suitability of food for consumption. They include;

• A food handler should take all precautionary and safety measures not to handle food or food-preparation surfaces in a manner likely to contaminate it.
• Any food handler with symptoms indicating that they may be suffering from any food borne illness should avoid handling food until they are completely safe to do so.
• A food handler should, when preparing food:
• Take practical precautionary measures to make sure that their body or their items of clothing do not contaminate the food they are preparing or the surfaces they are preparing food on.
• Avoid unnecessary contact with food that is completely prepared and ready to eat.
• Food handlers should make sure that their outer clothing is impeccably cleaned and appropriate for food handling.
• Food handlers should never eat over unprotected food or food preparation surfaces.
• Food handlers should not blow, sneeze or cough over uncovered food or food preparation surfaces;
• Not smoke or spit in food preparation areas;
• Not defecate or urinate in places close to food preparation areas.

The food governance system in Australia is highly fragmented and lacks enough transparency. The food handling authority is largely in the hands of the Australian government and other semi-governmental bodies. The heightened level of trust in consumers in the food governance of Australia implies that it is largely habitual and precautionary food safety measures are taken for granted (Arthur, 2016).

The potential risks to the food supply chain are continually changing; the requirement demand and supply for provision of suitable for consumption food remain firm. The food industry in Australia needs to constantly keep developing the food regulatory system that provides enough support to the program for food safety. This advancement can only be made possible with the help of investigations done scientifically underpinning the assurance of what exactly constitutes safe and unsafe food. The integration of a well defined and validated program of food safety is the most critical development in creating management systems that are quality enough to ensure all potentially problematic areas are addressed in the food industry. 

The grocery and food products industry in Australia is the biggest sector for manufacturing. The industry accounts for about 27.5 percent of the total manufacturing turnover of the country this is according to the national organization that represents the whole country’s packaged food, grocery products and drink manufacturers- The Australian Food and Grocer Council.

The DoA Section of Food Regulation Policy works together with the food industry in Australia and other respective agencies of the government, specifically the Department of Health and Aging (DoHA), to make sure that the set measures and food regulations protect its people from food borne illnesses (Kirk, Hall, McKay, & Gregory, 2008).).

Research in food safety is a very vital tool that helps in the assessment of how effective food safety policies and programs work. To address the safety of various food products effectively, it is crucial to understand the hazards in the said food products and how they relate to health outcomes that are adverse (Crerar, 2010).

The research surrounding food borne illnesses and the pathogens that cause them should be adequate to effectively address the information needs at any point in the food supply chain; from the production point (farm or manufacturing factory) to the table for consumption. The key agenda in the research should be driven by the concerns of the public on issues to do with their health and safety when consuming food.

Food Safety Standards and Regulations in Australia

In this chapter, the following elements of the research project will be discussed:

• The research design;
• The area of study;
• The total population in the area of study;
• The sample population chosen for this study;
• The instruments and tools used for collection of data;
• Administering of the instruments and tools used for data collection;
• The method used for analyzing the collected data.

In conducting the research, a survey research design was chosen as it was the most appropriate for answering the research questions.

In this research project, a sample of a few Australians were asked a few questions and required to fill a questionnaire.

In this research project, the opinions, perceptions, options, and attitudes of government officials in the health department, health practitioners such as doctors, food industry workers and owners and citizens were sought on the state of the public health regarding food safety in Australia. The data was collected from the six states of Australia. The respondents are shown in the table below:

The above listed respondents in the survey are considered appropriate and suitable for the study since they are the sole food handlers in the food supply chain and the government officials play a key role in the food legislation in Australia.

The total population in Australia is too large to conduct a survey. It is because of this that the study focused on a smaller sample of the population by sampling out critical players in the food industry, consumers and the individuals responsible for food legislation. The elements of the sample chosen for this study were asked questions regarding the state of food safety in Australia.

A stratified random sampling technique was applied in the selection of the respondents for this study. This sampling procedure was applied to ensure that all the variables of the study were equally represented (Rosenfeld, Imai, & Shapiro 2010). The stratification of the respondents was based on the states and the role of the respondents in the food industry and the food supply chain.

Within each of the identified sections, the respondent selection was done by simple random sampling. This procedure was made possible by writing out number on many pieces of paper which were then put in a basket. After reshuffling the papers in the basket, the prospective respondents were asked to pick the folded pieces of paper randomly. The individuals that picked papers with even numbers written on them were selected as the respondents for the study.

The study employed an interview schedule as one of the techniques of collecting data. The questions asked during the interview were aimed at eliciting information pertinent to food safety in Australia.

A questionnaire was also specially designed for the study. The contents of the questionnaire were based on the answers from the interviews conducted during the study. The questionnaire was fashioned the Modified Likert model; on a 4-point scale that ranges from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” The respondents were then asked to respond to their appropriate degree of agreement as per the question statement. 

General Requirements for Food Handling in Australia

After testing the pilot phase of the study and doing all the requisite modification of the study instruments, the questionnaires were administered to the selected sample of the study. The likelihood of retrieving all the questionnaires back was because colleagues of the researcher offered to help in getting them back.

The data obtained from conducting the study was analyzed. Weighted means that were worked out statistically were used in answering the questions of the research study. The options of the response were weighted as shown in the table below:

Regulators, food-manufactures and consumers in Australia demand that managers of livestock and other food producers should pay more attention to the safety of the products. Nevertheless, outside the agricultural sector there is lack of appreciation of the practical and technical challenges faced by farmers in achieving the goals of food safety that are set by the general community. Unlike other establishments of food processing or areas of food preparation such as the kitchen, farm animals and crops cannot be easily manipulated to reduce the occurrence of pathogens.

The primary purpose of this research design is to test if there are variations in the problem-perception between the key players in the food industry. There are multiple steps that can be followed to manage the safety of food. The first step is by conducting risk assessment. Risk assessments could be quantitative or qualitative. The choice of the type of risk assessment to be used depends on the graveness of problem being experience, the time, information and resources available. 

 Numerous options for risk assessment are applicable. These options include; setting of microbiological criteria, setting food safety objectives and using procedures of acceptance. There are numerous causes of food poisoning, multiple points where illness causing pathogens may cause food contamination along the food handling and supply chain, and multiple factors that cause make certain groups of people or individuals more susceptible than others. Therefore, there is no single precautionary measure that could possibly protect food from contamination and ensure food safety in the food supply chain.

Measures to protect food from contamination and possible food poisoning cases in Australia should chiefly focus on the pathogens and foods that have the biggest risks to the health of consumers. There should be an emphasis to develop and implement initiative to control the identified risks (Crerar, 2010). Needless to mention, health government agencies and the food industry sector should collaborate to ensure food safety. 

Enacted Food Regulations to Ensure Food Safety in Australia

References

Annual Incidence Circa. (2010). Foodborne illness in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/E829FA59A59677C0CA257D6A007D2C97/%24File/Foodborne-Illness-Australia-circa-2010.pdf 

Arthur, P. J. (2016). Consumer trust in different food provisioning schemes: evidence from Beijing, China. Journal of cleaner production.

Crerar, S.k. (2010). Ensuring food safety throughout the food supply chain.  Australia New Zealand Food Authority Monitoring and Surveillance Program. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/user/Documents/101%20Nerdy%20turtlez/downloads/Crerar_0289.pdf

Darlington, R. B., & Hayes, A. F. (2016). Regression analysis and linear models: Concepts, applications, and implementation. Guilford Publications.

Food poisoning. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/fp/food-poisoning

 Food Standards Agency.  (2009). Food Handlers: Fitness to work regulatory guidance and best practice advice for food business operators. Retrieved from https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/publication/fitnesstoworkguide09v3.pdf

Friedman, L., & Van Camp, W. (2016). Pitfalls of the Food Safety Modernization Act: Enhanced Regulation, Minimal Consumer Benefit, and Zero Tolerance Levels for Naturally-Occurring Trace Pathogens. U. Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev., 48, 13.

Hoffmann, S. A., Maculloch, B., & Batz, M. (2015). Economic burden of major foodborne illnesses acquired in the United States (No. 205081). United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Kirk, M. D., Hall, V.G., McKay,I., & Gregory, J. (2008). Food Safety: Food borne disease in Australia: The OzFoodNet Experience. Clinical infectious diseases: an official publication of the infectious diseases Society of America. 47. 392-400. Doi: 10.1086/589861.

 Kirk, M., Ford, L., Glass, K., & Hall, G. (2014). Foodborne Illness, Australia, Circa 2000 and Circa 2010. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 20(11), 1857-1864. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2011.131315.

Lasky, T. (2002). Foodborne illness—Old problem, new relevance. Epidemiology;13(5):593–8 

Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), 473-475.

Martin, T., Dean, E., Hardy, B., Johnson, T., Jolly, F., Matthews, F., Mckay, I., Souness, R., & Williams, J. (2003). A new era for food safety regulation in Australia. Food Control.  Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/S0956-7135(03)00035-5

Mialon, M., Swinburn, B., Allender, S., & Sacks, G. (2016). Systematic examination of publicly-available information reveals the diverse and extensive corporate political activity of the food industry in Australia. BMC public health, 16(1), 283.

Redmond, E.C., Griffith, C.J., Slader, J., & Humphrey,T.J. (2004). Microbiological and observational analysis of cross contamination risks during domestic food preparation. British Food Journal 106(8):581–97. doi: 10.1108/00070700410553585

Rosenfeld, B., Imai, K., & Shapiro, J. (2010). Replication Data for: An empirical validation study of popular survey methodologies for sensitive questions. American Journal of Political Science. In press: doi: 10.7910/DVN/29911

 Rossvoll, E.H., Lavik, R., Ueland, O., Jacobsen, E., Hagtvedt, T., & Langsrud, S. (2013). Food Safety practices among Norwegian consumers. Journal of Food Protection. 76(11):1939–47. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-12-269 

Scott, E.(2003). Food safety and food borne disease in 21st century homes. The Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases ;14(5):277–80. 

Swinnen, J. (2016). Economics and politics of food standards, trade, and development. Agricultural Economics, 47(S1), 7-19.

Uyttendaele, M., Jacxsens, L., Van Boxstael, S., Kirezieva, K., & Luning, P. (2015). Food safety standards in the fresh produce supply chain: advantages and disadvantages. In Advances in Microbial Food Safety (pp. 379-405).

Yapp, C., & Fairman, R. (2006). Factors affecting food safety compliance within small and medium-sized enterprises: implications for regulatory and enforcement strategies. Food Control. 17(1):42–51. doi: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2004.08.0

Discussion Of Findings From Data Analysis

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