Australian Food Biosecurity Message Goes To China

5 November 2012

Australian Food Biosecurity Message Goes To China

An international agri-science forum being held in China this week has been told there is no room for short-term fixes to secure food supplies around the world.

Shashi Sharma, director of plant biosecurity at Western Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Food, told the annual Yangling Agri-Science Forum that achieving good biosecurity systems for food supplies was a challenge the world as a whole needed to meet.

The forum is being held as part of China’s biggest annual international exhibition and trade show.

Dr Sharma told delegates the world needed a strong global biosecurity strategy as an integral part of the sustainable food security system to produce, protect and provide food for present and future generations.

Dr Sharma, leader of the ‘Safeguarding Trade’ program of Australia’s Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre (PBCRC), said international food security strategies had to be based on a long-term vision, and could not successfully be achieved with short-term fixes.

“The sheer scale of globalisation and the massive movements of people and goods around the world today exposes the food chain to a very high risk of biosecurity threats,” he said.

“Both developed and developing countries face different challenges with food loss, but all countries need strong biosecurity systems.

“Developing countries require effective biosecurity strategies to safeguard their food value chain from emerging pest risks. Developed countries need to continue to maintain and enhance investment in biosecurity preparedness and implement effective strategies to minimise downstream food waste.”

Dr Sharma suggested what he called a 3P strategy - produce food sustainably; protect food from loss in the value chain; and provide biosecure food to regions and communities in need.

“Such a strategy needs to be implemented to maximise the productivity and security of our food value chain for current and future generations,” he said.

Dr Sharma said it was crucial that food was produced without compromising the long term productive capacity of the world’s water and land resources to achieve sustainable food security.

“A crucial element of the strategy must also be a zero tolerance to food waste,” he said.

“It is ironic that while about one billion people go to bed hungry each night, more than 30 per cent of world food production – enough to feed over two billion people – is lost from field to fork.

“The quantity of food wasted in the developed countries is mind blowing. Australia alone wastes over four million tonnes of food every year. This figure is dwarfed by food wastages in larger economies like the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

“There is a clear need to enhance community understanding around the world of the food value chain and the implications of losing or wasting food. A sustainable food security mission, built on well-developed strategies to produce, protect and provide food, is a necessity.

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