Informatics to Support International Food Safety

Diseases and pathogens in the food supply cause large numbers of illnesses annually. One example was the enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) outbreak in Germany which resulted in approximately 4,000 people infected and nearly 50 deaths in 2011. The estimated economic impact of foodborne illnesses is significant. Governments and the private sector seek to minimize food safety risks. Informatics plays an increasing role in dealing with the big data generated, which must be analyzed to support risk assessment, prevention, and mitigation programs to optimize food safety outcomes. However, economic and organizational issues require attention. Public and private sector collaborations are necessary to identify food safety outbreaks as a starting point, and to then trace the potential causes to their sources. The GLOBALG.A.P. initiative is an international public-private sector collaboration, headquartered in Germany, to assure product safety throughout the food supply chain to the retail level. Another preventive approach to food safety is the United States implementation of the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. Informatics plays a key role in providing the analytic framework and procedures at the multiple levels needed to successfully assess and control the risks involved as food is tracked through the supply chain. This paper provides additional examples of individual company and international collaborations to harness big data, provide the analytics, and implement improved food safety protocols. One issue which must be resolved between producers and companies selling the digital information systems incorporated into farm machinery working the fields is who owns and controls the data generated.