In the era of climate change: reducing health risks while minimizing environmental impact

Food value chains, from production to consumption, are closely connected to environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Climate change will result in higher temperatures and more frequent and intense weather events, which will increase chemical and microbiological risks throughout the food value chain. The challenge will be to find ecologically sustainable strategies using methodologies and/or tools that reduce both the health risks and the environmental impact of climate change.
To face this complex and upcoming challenge, this study presents tools to reduce food-related health risks and to assess the environmental performance of food value chains. Examples in different areas, where risk assessment (RA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) have been integrated, are analyzed in detail in order to suggest "win-win" strategies to mitigate risks while minimizing the environmental impact on the food value chain.
The next challenge will be to transfer the methodologies presented in these examples to food production, from farm to fork.

Associated publication: Feliciano, R. J., P. Guzmán-Luna, G. Boué, M. Mauricio-Iglesias, A. Hospido and J.-M. Membré 2022. Strategies to mitigate food safety risk while minimizing environmental impacts in the era of climate change. Trends in Food Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2022.02.027.

Partners and funding: This study was carried out by the UMR INRAE Oniris SECALIM and financed in the framework of the European project ITN Protect