Food Safety Governance and Guardianship: The Role of the Private Sector in Addressing the EU Ethylene Oxide Incident

Abstract

Sesame seeds within the European Union (EU) are classified as foods not of animal origin. Two food safety issues associated with sesame seeds have emerged in recent years, i.e., Salmonella contamination and the presence of ethylene oxide. Fumigation with ethylene oxide to reduce Salmonella in seeds and spices is not approved in the EU, so its presence in sesame seeds from India was a sentinel incident sparking multiple trans-European product recalls between 2020–2021. Following an interpretivist approach, this study utilises academic and grey sources including data from the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) database to inform a critical appraisal of current EU foods not of animal origin legislation and associated governance structures and surveillance programs. This is of particular importance as consumers are encouraged towards plant-based diets. This study shows the importance of collaborative governance utilizing data from company testing and audits as well as official regulatory controls to define the depth and breadth of a given incident in Europe. The development of reflexive governance supported by the newest technology (e.g., blockchain) might be of value in public–private models of food safety governance. This study contributes to the literature on the adoption of risk-based food safety regulation and the associated hybrid public–private models of food safety governance where both regulators and private organizations play a vital role in assuring public health.

Conflicting Issues of Sustainable Consumption and Food Safety: Risky Consumer Behaviors in Reducing Food Waste and Plastic Packaging

“…Surveillance of food safety along the food chain, with which sustainability issues have been entwined in recent years, is an unequivocal duty of food-safety authorities [ 112 ]. Reducing food waste and minimizing single-use plastic packaging are emerging issues, showing several similar characteristics ( Figure 1 ).…”

Reimagining Food: Readdressing and Respecting Values

“…The structured literature review was grounded by a foundational snowball literature search using a series of iterative searches. In undertaking the searches for the various combinations of search terms, all relevant papers were collated from the first 5 pages of the search results and the titles and abstracts considered for relevancy and any duplication was removed [61,62]. The papers were then read in full, or where the sources were audio based listened to in full (n = 100) and screened for relevance and appropriateness in supporting the discursive narrative, the development of the typology, and underpinning of the argument in this paper.…”

Food-Borne Chemical Carcinogens and the Evidence for Human Cancer Risk

“…Due to known hazardous effects, use of EtO in food production in Europe is prohibited (Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009) [ 478 ], and maximum residue levels are established between 0.02 and 0.1 mg/kg (Regulation (EC) No 396/2005) [ 479 ]. Such regulations led to a recent recall of a variety of products containing EtO contaminated sesame seeds or locust bean gum, including bread, sauces, ice cream and other fermented milk products [ 480 , 481 ]. In addition to exogenous sources, EtO can be also formed endogenously as a result of lipid peroxidation reactions, metabolic activity of microbiota or following metabolism of ethylene [ 482 , 483 , 484 ].…”