Emerging Food Safety Risk Identification Attests to Need for Global Action

In a newly issued report on emerging risks in food safety, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has identified four key issues, with several others seen as requiring further information or needing monitoring. The issues were identified from a study of 55 topics through the EFSA’s integrated system of emerging risk identification and horizon scanning.

The EFSA’s utilization of horizon scanning, integrated with collaborative knowledge networks, not only provides for the assessment of emerging risks, but also helps assess whether the industry and governments are adequately prepared for future changes or threats. It also means that the results are not simply predictions, but are based on a systematic investigation of evidence about future trends, enabling strategic preparedness and proactive governance.

The areas studied were food ingredients, pesticides, animal health and welfare, food packaging materials, nutrition (including supplements), food innovation, contaminants, and biological hazards. Within each, EFSA identified specific immediate hazards, areas requiring additional surveillance, and long-term technological and environmental shifts. The following four were found to be the most critical emerging risks based on new hazards or increased/unexpected exposure to known hazards:

1. Food Packaging: Contamination and concern based on the increased use of bio-based, biodegradable, and other natural-origin materials in food contact applications which may alter exposure patterns and pose challenges for risk assessment. These materials could introduce hazardous chemicals such as contaminants (including environmental ones), pesticides residues, allergens, and complex mixtures with uncertain characterization/specification and migration potential.
2. Biological Hazard: Multidrug antiparasitic drug resistance in soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) on farms is linked to climate change, excessive use of anthelmintics, and poor grazing management. FAO reports economic losses in livestock-dependent, low-income countries, while scientists warn co-selection risks from nanoparticle alternatives and their environmental persistence.
3. Contaminant: The illicit use of Cafodos (sodium citrate + hydrogen peroxide) to mask fish spoilage has been used to preserve appearance, enabling the sale of histamine-contaminated products. At issue are detection challenges due to the rapid decomposition of the compound, but new methods are being developed to identify proteolytic changes and may help identify more cases of adulteration.
4. Contaminant: Bongkrekic acid in fermented foods is exacerbated by warmer conditions. At issue is home fermentation safety and the diagnostic challenges when one relies on sensory inspection alone at production, along with detecting illness that appears long after consumption.

In addition to these, a number of areas were categorized as “further information needed,” suggesting they are early signals that the industry should monitor closely. These include vertical farming contaminants (i.e., unexpected mercury contamination traced to polyurethane coatings on LED lighting); plant-based alternatives (concerns about inorganic arsenic in rice-based milk alternatives); innovative food elements (novel edible food coatings and edible electronics for which safety and migration potential require further assessment): probiotics and antimicrobial resistance (some probiotic strains may disseminate resistance through the food chain); biological hazards (new zoonotic concerns over Corynebacterium Silvaticum in pigs and Shewanella spp. in seafood and water systems).

Along with those seen as critical and those needing monitoring, EFSA also provided analysis of some broader “weak signals” that may shape the future food safety landscape, and some issues concluded to not be emerging risks. Taken together, these confirm the continued relevance of contaminants and biological hazards as dominant areas of concern, reflecting evolving exposure patterns and increasing complexity across the food chain.

Demonstrating the growing relevance of universal and intersecting challenges—such as climate change, environmental degradation, technological disruption, and global interconnectedness—the report shows the need for a holistic, international perspective. In highlighting the increasing importance of integrating foresight, risk assessment, and policy support functions, the group’s identification of emerging risks can help provide a framework for the global coordination of prevention and control.

Summary: In a newly issued report on emerging risks in food safety, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has identified four key issues. In addition to these, several areas were categorized as “further information needed,” suggesting they are early signals that the industry should monitor closely. In highlighting the increasing importance of integrating foresight, risk assessment, and policy support functions, the group’s identification of emerging risks can help provide a framework for the global coordination of prevention and control.