Meet Joelle Mosso, WG Science Team’s
Newest Member By Joelle Mosso, Science Programs Associate Vice President Food safety is a constantly evolving discipline, and the goal is to continually improve and drive residual risks to consumers down each day.
The Jungle, a 1905 novel by Upton Sinclair, highlighted untoward practices of the U.S. meat packing industry by exposing that wood shavings, spoiled meat and chemicals were routinely used to make meat products. It is fair to say that over the past century, there have been drastic improvements regarding food quality and safety, and the simple task of cleaning up an ingredient list is no longer the primary purpose of the food safety team. In the world of food safety, the challenge is always to be better and safer than the day before. Each day new insights important for food safety are discovered and new practices are developed to address changes in the food production ecosystem. The nexus of molecular biology, genomics and computational analysis is offering a glimpse into the new phase of food safety; one where hazard detection combined with unparalleled genomic understanding and computational data analysis will provide an opportunity to elevate food risk management to a state never within reach before. Managing food safety in produce requires finding the balance between environmental elements, agricultural practices and the need to safely support consumers’ nutritional requirements. Fresh produce, by the nature of being fresh, is unable to capitalize on centuries-old practices such as cooking to reduce microbial risks; yet its fresh state delivers some of the most critical nutrients and compounds for overall human health. As such, produce food safety represents a remarkably important challenge, and one where innovative food safety tools are just beginning to offer insight into the new paradigm of preventative food safety. As detection technologies have improved in identifying hazards within our food production systems, it can often feel like risks in the produce industry are increasing at a quickening rate. The reality is that with technological advancements in molecular biology and genomic analysis, many of the hazards that have always been present are simply becoming easier to identify. The current challenge is not that risks are increasing, but that we must continually be evolving our practices to offer continued risk reduction and a sustainable food system.
I recently joined the Western Growers Science team as Associate VP for Science Programs to support the produce community in identifying and incorporating food safety, sustainability and data utilization solutions. My background is in pathogenic food microbiology and risk assessment, and my focus at Western Growers will be on developing scientific programs that support growers in addressing the growing list of food safety and sustainability challenges. One specific focus will be on food safety data utilization and data-sharing programs that will help the industry unlock testing value, create visibility to better understand risk levels and help identify new risk mitigation strategies. While new challenges and issues are emerging every day, I am optimistic that we are at the forefront of new innovative solutions that will usher us into an exciting and sustainable prevention-based food safety system. Managing food safety in produce requires finding the balance between environmental elements, agricultural practices and the need to safely support consumers’ nutritional requirements.
JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024
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Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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