Risk assessment of food systems must be holistic and multidisciplinary

Abstract:

A forerunner in risk-benefit and multi-criteria approaches, SECALIM enjoys an international reputation for its expertise in this field, enabling it to contribute to European projects integrating food safety into the overall study of food systems. Food systems are often made up of different sectors and players spread over different sites. As a result, risk assessment for food systems needs to be holistic and multidisciplinary. To achieve this, several areas need to be taken into account, such as food safety, nutrition, the environment, economics and social dimensions. However, combining these dimensions to assess multiple impacts on food remains a challenge in complex, multi-stakeholder systems. This review, supported by the European Holifood project, draws on the tools available in the fields of food safety, environment, nutrition and economics, to carry out an in-depth and comprehensive assessment of the multidimensional impacts of food supply chains, in other words, the holistic evaluation of food systems. The advantages and limitations of the methods currently used for holistic risk assessment were discussed. Recommendations were made in favor of an approach combining different holistic risk assessment methods, in order to obtain robust assessments that can then be used to support public policies in a changing global environment.

Context and issues :

Food systems comprise a set of interdependent activities for transforming agricultural materials into food products. The operations they require often have multidimensional impacts, and must meet a number of food safety, security and sustainability requirements. As a result, risk assessment of food systems must be multi-disciplinary, and include food safety, nutritional, environmental, economic and social criteria. Of the few holistic assessments carried out to date, focused on a particular area, or generic, with varying levels of quantification, few cover all criteria and integrate food systems as a whole.

Results:

This work presents the different assessment methods and their applications in food systems, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. A framework was proposed for conducting a holistic assessment applicable to food supply chains. Evaluation methods were classified into descriptive methods, mathematical optimization, generic MCDA (Multicriteria decision analysis) ranking and, finally, domain-specific methods. The methods developed so far do not cover all dimensions and the food system as a whole, and all have weaknesses. The authors therefore recommended adopting a multi-level approach, starting with a descriptive method (radar diagrams) to describe the holistic assessment, and gradually enriching the method to improve decision-making by applying several methods simultaneously and thus gaining in robustness. The authors stressed the importance of presenting and discussing the uncertainty and assumptions underlying the construction of the assessment.

Outlook :

This work has highlighted three main points.

Firstly, a holistic risk assessment can be initiated using a step-by-step approach, initially descriptive and then becoming more complex to tend towards a robust quantitative assessment and thus improve decision-making.
The assessment should be iterative, enriching itself as new data becomes available.Secondly, the uncertainty and assumptions underlying the development of the assessment must be explicitly presented and discussed.
Thirdly, risk management issues need to be formulated from a systems thinking perspective, which could lead to better collaboration between risk assessors from different disciplines and regulatory authorities. Future holistic assessments will help refine the methodology and revisit these recommendations.

Valorization:

This work has been published as an open access scientific article and has been shared in various SECALM social networks.

Bibliographical references :

Országh, E., De Matteu Monteiro, C., Pires, S.M., Jóźwiak, Á., Marette, S., Membré, J.-M., Feliciano, R.J., 2024. Holistic risk assessments of food systems. Glob. Food Sec. 43, 100802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100802