User:Shawndouglas/sandbox/sublevel5

Title: What is the importance of a food and beverage testing laboratory to society?

Author for citation: Shawn E. Douglas

License for content: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Publication date: August 2022

Introduction

Humanity's focus on food and water security remains one of its most important tasks in the twenty-first century, particularly in the face of growing concerns about the negative ramifications of climate change. Without a continued focus on food and water security—including all the quality and safety assurances that come with it—many elements of the world population face a grim reality of insufficient food, limited access to clean water, and malnutrition.

In contrast to these stark realities (which are just as much about agricultural practices, societal and governmental practices, public health practices, and human approaches to climate change), much has admittedly improved in the way we ensure food and beverage security and safety, at least compared to times prior to the twentieth century. In fact, the laboratory and the science practiced in it have arguably played a significant role in better ensuring safe, quality food and beverages in our lives. However, the laboratory is only one part of an otherwise "complex adaptive system of governance" that is food safety, which in turn is only one part of a larger system dedicated to food and water security.

This brief topical article will examine how modern society benefits from a food and beverage testing laboratory. It will turn to history, statistical data, and description of the roles such labs play, demonstrating their overall value.

History of laboratories in food and beverage testing

Food, Hygiene, and the Laboratory. A Short History of Food Poisoning in Britain, circa 1850–1950 : https://academic.oup.com/shm/article-abstract/12/2/293/1649538 Feeding the World Today and Tomorrow: The Importance of Food Science and Technology: https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2010.00127.x

Milk certification and lab testing in late nineteenth century: https://books.google.com/books?id=aeGMDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover

FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

Food Safety 93 to current: https://books.google.com/books?id=LO7eDwAAQBAJ

Minor bits of history, plus food preservation: https://books.google.com/books?id=G2QL_dyS5YAC&pg=PA25

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Pillsbury, NASA, 1950s; International food safety: https://books.google.com/books?id=D00xd8qNUvYC&pg=PA1

Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA): https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/10/food-labs-integral-to-changing-world-of-food-safety/ AND don't forget LAAF: https://www.limswiki.org/index.php/LII:FDA_Food_Safety_Modernization_Act_Final_Rule_on_Laboratory_Accreditation_for_Analyses_of_Foods:_Considerations_for_Labs_and_Informatics_Vendors

Related statistics

Estimates of Foodborne Illness in the United States - "All told, contaminated food causes 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year in the United States." : https://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/index.html

Laboratory utilization statistics (2013): https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/10/food-labs-integral-to-changing-world-of-food-safety/

The roles a laboratory may have in the food and beverage industry

Laboratories directly and tangentially related to the food and beverage industry play a number of roles, depending on where they're situated. These roles prove to be important in the greater scheme of industry activities, in turn providing a number of benefits to society. As gleaned from prior discussion, as well as other sources, these laboratory roles can be broadly broken into three categories: research and development (R&D), pre-manufacturing and manufacturing, and regulatory and security.

R&D roles

The laboratory participating in these roles is performing one or more tasks that relate the development or improvement of a food, beverage, additive, or spice. This often leads to a commercial formulation, which has the "necessary details required to scale and produce your [food or beverage] in a consistent, efficient, and safe manner." Even packaging solutions are targets for R&D labs in the food and beverage industry.

The R&D lab is typically placed outside the manufacturing context proper, but not necessarily always. Some manufacturing companies may have an entire research complex dedicated to creating and improving some aspect of their products. Other companies may take their R&D to a third-party lab dedicated to conducting development and formulation activities for manufacturers. Food and beverage research activities aren't confined to manufacturers, however. Some higher education institutions, such as the Hartwick College Center for Craft Food & Beverage, provide research and development opportunities to students engaging in work-study programs, often in partnership with some other commercial enterprise.

Food and beverage R&D labs may work towards improving packaging, testing a product's shelf life (i.e., stability), conducting flavor or aroma analysis, developing and innovating foodstuffs, reformulating existing products, and researching genetic modifications to ingredients. The end user benefits by having fresher foods that are culinarily pleasing, more nutritious, and safer for consumption.

Pre-manufacturing and manufacturing roles

caloric and nutritional analysis (for labeling), food allergen testing (for ingredients) (see: https://www.microbac.com/allergen-testing), quality control (along the production chain)

Regulatory and security roles

authenticity and adulteration testing, accreditation testing, supply chain/border testing

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) : https://www.fsis.usda.gov/science-data/laboratories-procedures/fsis-laboratories

Conclusion

This brief topical article sought to answer "what is the importance of a food and beverage testing laboratory to society?" It notes that in particular,