Food Safety Trends for fresh produce in 2024

At the start of each year, Deon Mahoney from IFPA Australia New Zealand delivers a webinar that takes a dive into consumer and market trends and how they will impact food safety issues in the fresh produce sector.

While we enjoy fresh produce for its health and nutrition benefits, there remain issues around produce safety that need to be better managed. Food contamination and foodborne illness continue to affect consumers, and no matter how small the incident, they attract unwanted attention and can negatively impact consumer confidence, market access, and ultimately business profitability.

This year’s webinar provides an overview of contemporary food trends identified by various commentators across the food supply chain; followed by a stocktake of incidents affecting fresh produce safety during 2023; and a review of our operating environment describing issues which will potentially shape the safety of fresh produce.

The content covers the introduction of the new Primary Production and Processing Standards, the effects of climate change and extreme weather events on contamination, the drive towards improved sustainability and its relationship with food safety, and other emerging food safety issues.