Food Safety During Pandemic: Risk Management and Safe Nutrition

How does the pandemic affect food safety? What are the precautions to be taken in food consumption?

Food Sector in Pandemic

During a pandemic, our perspective on our environment and our understanding of security changes. As the COVID -19 crisis continues, the safety of everything from door handles to the food we eat has become more important. The food sector is one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic period. Mass food production facilities, restaurants, ready-to-eat food companies have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak in general.

The demands of consumers in the food sector have started to change and increase. This situation has necessitated new regulations in terms of food safety and quality. Although the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) emphasizes that there is no clear evidence that food is a possible source or route of transmission for coronavirus, especially consumers have moved away from the concept of ready-to-eat food to protect themselves from the outbreak. This situation has led to new regulations for producers.

With the change in consumer preferences during the pandemic period and the questioning of trust in food companies, some important steps have started to be taken. One of the most important steps is the issuance of “Covid-19 Safe Production Certificate” to manufacturers within the scope of the “Covid-19 Hygiene, Infection Prevention and Control Guide” prepared by the Turkish Standards Institute (TSE).

Within the scope of this document, many companies, especially large companies producing in the food sector, have applied to obtain the “Covid-19 Safe Production Certificate”.

In general, this standard includes measures to be taken for many different sectors. However, the most important and striking one is of course the food sector. Food manufacturers who want to obtain the Covid-19 Safe Production Certificate must meet some conditions. First of all, a risk assessment against Covid-19 should be carried out within the company.

Early identification of people showing symptoms among employees, ensuring that people who have recovered from the disease come to work after 14 days of isolation, effective implementation of hygiene, infection prevention and control, and the predetermination and assignment of people who will be responsible for the operation and control of processes, at least one trained person on duty to deal with emergencies, regular training of employees on the transmission routes and prevention of the virus, proper hand hygiene and environmental cleaning and COVID-19 awareness are the first points to be considered in the stages of obtaining a certificate. By auditing and documenting Covid-19 measures in food companies, consumer confidence in food companies will be ensured.

Nanolab Laboratories Group continues to provide services within the scope of Food Analysis.

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