Emerging risks

The aim of the course is to provide students with in-depth knowledge on newly identified and emerging risks (NIERs) in the food systems and on the strategies to prevent them in the during food processing.
Emerging food risks are risks resulting from a newly identified hazard to which a significant exposure may occur, or from an unexpected new or increased significant exposure and/or susceptibility to a known hazard.
The course will address the available source of information on NIERs and the scientific approaches for the NIERs identification. Particular emphasis will be placed on the new knowledge of NIERs deriving from new hazards, increased exposure, new susceptible group, new driver, innovative technologies and re-emerging hazards. Moreover, the impact of new consumption habits, food frauds and global food trade will be discussed.
The principal NIERs of biological and chemical origins will be presented and discussed by analysing the most recent cases in the EU and at international levels. Prevention and anticipatory systems to mitigate the impact of NIER in the food production and the interaction with the Food Safety Management System (FSMS) plans will be addressed. How to develop a FSMS plan, with specify risk analysis of NIERs will be discussed. Moreover, the impact of genomic analyses for food safety risk assessment will be presented and used during the practical lesson by students

At the end of the course, students should possess solid scientific basis on newly identified and emerging risks in food production and should be able to:
- carry out a critical analysis of the safety management processes in the food chain
- develop preventive strategies to mitigate NIERs, including those deriving from changes in the consumers’ habits, from frauds and from international trade.
- understand how to respond to NIERs deriving from innovative technologies, expected to impact in the next years the food systems.