So far, 2013 has been both a good and bad year for food safety. The good: We have made many advances, laboratory tests are getting faster and more accurate, food-safety programs are becoming more robust, and we have learned a lot about Salmonella and are realizing the true challenge it presents.
Recently I have been reading a book by a philosopher who tells how the events in our lives that we may initially interpret as good may not turn out that way; similarly those events we initially see as bad may in fact lead to something good.
In food safety, the stakes are high. If a food processor doesn’t take a proactive food-safety stance, and then experiences a recall due to E. coli or Salmonella, it could put the company out of business.
Within the next five to 10 years, many biosensors will find routine, practical food-safety application, says Sundaram Gunasekaran of the University of Wisconsin-Madision.