Image commercially licensed from: Unsplash
One of the most crucial aspects of operating and managing a catering business, a restaurant, or any other food service establishment is food safety. Business leaders should be able to understand the importance of food safety themselves and have the ability to communicate it to their employees. Food safety is not a matter of common sense and can only be achieved by policies, training, procedures, and constant monitoring. If not taken care of, improper food safety can have far-reaching effects that put consumers’ health at risk.
Food handling is pivotal to shield consumers from normal allergens and foodborne sicknesses. Companies and stakeholders are protected from legal action and costly penalties by safe food products. If not addressed on time, a business could shut down or even go out of business due to fines and legal repercussions.
By providing education and training to everyone involved in the handling and processing of ingredients in a food business, businesses can implement sufficient food safety controls and measures. If you want to keep your consumers safe from allergic reactions, food poisoning, and other health hazards caused by contaminated food, one must carefully follow proper precautions.
From the farm to the plate, food products and ingredients may face a variety of contaminants, throughout their supply chain journey. Therefore, safe food handling procedures and practices need to be carried out throughout the food production cycle to reduce these risks and safeguard consumers.
Food safety is a scientific concept which is taught in different academic fields, like engineering, microbiology and chemistry. These various schools of thought came together to make sure that food processing is safe everywhere, whether the food products are bought, made, prepared, sold, or stored. If we follow this perspective, food safety is a systemic approach to accountability and hygiene that encompasses the worldwide food industry.
Food safety and hygiene are the most vital aspects of the food industry because they help protect customers’ health from food poisoning and food-borne illnesses. When food is contaminated with germs like allergens, viruses and bacteria, people who eat the contaminated food have high chances of getting sick. Therefore, food safety is crucial in order to promote a healthy populace.
Additionally, safe food can contribute to the nation’s progress, nutritional and food security, human health, and, ultimately, to a country’s sustainable development. In order to ensure maximum food safety, researchers work round the clock and investigate a variety of strategies and safer methods for maintaining food hygiene during the distribution phase that will protect consumers from potential health hazards. One prominent individual in the industry who has contributed to the overall well-being of the society through his various researches on food distribution and food policy is the professor and researcher Sylvain Charlebois.
Charlebois is the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and is popularly known as “The Food Professor.” From 2010 to 2016, Charlebois taught at the University of Guelph and also served as dean of the university’s Faculty of Management. Later he presided over the first summit of food safety regulators in Finland in 2011.
In 2010, Charlebois published Canada’s Food Price Report and later co-authored studies on the performance of the Canadian Wheat Board’s Daily Price Contract program, edible cannabis products and Canadian’s attitudes towards GMOs. A notable amount of Charlebois’s research is based on comparing global food safety and traceability systems, which includes studies on allergens and their labeling. Charlebois along with his fleet of trained and skilled people published a cost analysis of Health Canada’s nutrition guide Canada’s Food Guide in 2019.
Additionally, Charlesbois is the primary author of Canada’s Food Price Report. He came up with the grocery industry’s new term, “shelflation,” which is similar to the now-famous “shrinkflation.” He has also shared his opinion about the Buttergate Canada scandal, in which hundreds of Canadians complained online that their butter had changed in quality because the butter they were given was no longer softening at room temperature. Due to the rising demand for butter during lockdown, Charlebois noted that farmers had been providing their cows with energy supplements, frequently in the form of palm oil.
Besides writing a blog called “The Food Professor” for the magazine Canadian Grocer, Charlebois is also the co-host of the Food Professor podcast. He is the author or co-author of numerous books in addition to more than 200 research articles which are based on topics such as global food systems, food safety, and security. Some of the famous books he has written are La révolution des protéines: Sauver la planète un repas à la fois (2022), Poutine nation: La glorieuse ascension d’un plat sans pretention (2021), The Food Professor, Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking (2016), and Pas Dans Mon Assiette: Manger Est-Il Devenu Risqué (2010).
During his illustrious and successful career Charlebois has received many awards such as the Researcher of the Year, Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University, Bill Braithwaite MBA Distinguished Professorial Award, University of Guelph (2015), Emerald Lit Award for Highly Commended Research (2012), and Emerald Lit Award for Highly Commended Research (2008).
Through his researches and knowledge, Charlebois has not only ensured the health and safety of consumers around the world, but has also helped in the growth of the overall food industry of Canada.
