Cecaro Massimo
General Secretary Italian Medical Press Association, Italy
Title: Food safety: Improving public understanding and preventing foodborne illness
Biography
Biography: Cecaro Massimo
Abstract
Strategic information on food safety should empower consumer healthy behaviour using new technologies. Smartphones could be used to understand what is safe or unsafe for a specific consumer and to remind what actions have to be taken to effectively reduce or get rid of the hazard. Indeed it is the consumer's responsibility to avoid ingredients that contain allergens, allergen derivatives or that are not suitable for specific conditions. QR code, now widely used for several different purposes, would make possible to match specific food/drink to people with limitations. This model could be integrated in every kitchen, using just a QR code reader and an app. Using this system it would be possible to create a profile that could be set considering age, sex, physiologic conditions (e.g. pregnancy) and co-morbidities with special regard to diabetes, hearth diseases, metabolic and immunodeficiency disorders.
In an easy way, just by selecting the own expertise on food safety topic, it would be possible to receive proper scientific information, in regard to a specific condition. Barcodes, using an infrared reader, could also be used to detect microorganism, such as yeasts, moulds and bacteria in foods. Globalisation has widened our food horizon and we are now dealing with products made from all over the world that travel even several thousand of miles before they get to our kitchen. Food that sometimes are not part of our food culture and that we are not very familiar with. In that respect it is crucial to ensure respect of basic rules of food preservation and to deliver proper and clear information.
That could be provided with technology in the form of QR and IR readers that could improve food culture and prevent foodborne illness.