Food safety,
ahot topic

Jeroen Sleenhoff

CEO KTBA, a Mérieux NutriSciences Company

Recently I was asked what concerns me. I can give a clear answer to that; Climate, Crisis and Conflict (the 3Cs).

The current conflicts in the world have their impact on the food sector. A good example is the war between Russia and Ukraine. As a result, the supply of, for example, wheat and sunflower oil has become increasingly limited. This has major consequences for the supply and thus production of food. We also experience these effects ourselves during our daily shopping. In less wealthy countries, this food insecurity has even greater consequences and we can speak of a crisis. Especially now that also the climate and the constantly rising temperatures have an impact on the global production of raw materials and food.

These developments do not only affect me personally, I also see the effects they have on the business operations of our customers and relations in the food industry.

Therefore, the food safety of products is an increasingly important issue. Not only because consumers are placing more value on it, but also because of all the current developments surrounding the production and supply of raw materials within Europe. The quality of food and food safety are becoming increasingly complex. How do you deal with this as an organization? What impact does this have on the way of working, food safety culture, purchase, the production process and quality? And what does this mean for specification management? Through various articles you will gain more insight.

In addition, in this edition we look at the ‘vegetarian’ confusion of terms in order to create some clarity in definitions. We also take a closer look at the changes in expiration dates that will take effect on July 1st. And of course you are provided with the familiar update of our Knowledge Center.

Enjoy reading the articles!

Jeroen Sleenhoff