This is an opinion piece by Ambrosus CTO Dr Stefan Meyer. Stefan has over 20 years of R&D experience in food analysis, ultrasound sensors and data encryption. Previously, Stefan led R&D projects at Nestlé, MHM Microtechnique and Vitargent Biotech and also sold two projects to Maersk Group and Perrot GmbH. He was the Founding Managing Director of the Integrative Food and Nutrition Center at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). Stefan holds a PhD in Food Science (ultrasound applications in food industry) from the University of Leeds and an MSc in Geosciences from the University of Lausanne. Stefan is also a Member of the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture.

It is a fact that the consumers in the industrialised countries are more and more demanding with their food. Not only does it have to be economical, it also needs to be healthy, tasty, safe and respectful to animal welfare and the environment. Added to these demands, quite often completely ignorant of agriculture, the steady multiplication of the national and international standards for food safety and public health further increases the pressure on the food industry.

What this all means is that the agricultural supply and the food production are facing remarkable challenges in the years to come. They have to switch from today’s quantity-oriented food production, whose aim is to guarantee the nutrient supply for a nation, to an international and competitive quality-oriented food market. While it is true that foodstuff has never been as safe as today, the perception of the risks to human health is higher than ever. Even with decades of mandatory foodstuff inspections and ever-stricter application of food hygiene principles, there are still deaths due to food-borne disease in man. In the United States alone, the toll amounts to about 9000 deaths per year. Given the media attention these fatalities get, the general tendency is for consumer’s confidence in the safety of food to be decreasing. And knowing that the urban consumer does not make a difference between commodities and diseases, a report on a Salmonella infection for example will not only have an adverse impact on beef, but on meat in general.

Economic considerations aside, the risks are also real. The treatment of complete herds of livestock with powerful antibiotics means that drug-resistant bacteria are passed through the food chain to the consumer. There are real reasons for concern, knowing that consumers respond very well to advertisements such as “fresh meat from animals raised naturally without hormones and antibiotics” or “GMO-free”. This “back to the farmers’ markets” tendency sees an increased consumption of food that is not or less processed than branded products with several processing procedures (cleaning, food additives such as preservatives, canning, packaging etc.) prior to marketing. However, the more fresh or organic the food is, the more is the consumer dependent on the absence of pathogens and contaminants in or on the raw material.