Food-Consumer Nexus: Food Safety and Food Security
In the context of agriculture and the food industry, two critical concepts are food safety and food security. Both concepts are essential to ensure that the food produced and consumed is safe, nutritious, and accessible.
In the context of agriculture and the food industry, two critical concepts are food safety and food security. Both concepts are essential to ensure that the food produced and consumed is safe, nutritious, and accessible.
Food safety refers to the measures taken to prevent food contamination and to ensure that the food is safe for consumption. Food contamination can occur due to biological, chemical, or physical hazards, such as pathogens, pesticides, or foreign objects. To ensure food safety, food companies must implement food safety management systems that include hazard analysis, critical control point (HACCP) plans, good manufacturing practices (GMPs), and regular inspections.
Each year, millions of Americans suffer (Figure 1) — and thousands die — from foodborne illnesses. This is a preventable problem that is damaging to both individuals and the economy, but many of these illnesses can be prevented. Ongoing food safety improvements, in addition to reducing foodborne illnesses, can yield economic and social benefits:
• Reduced loss of income and health care costs for the affected individual
• Improved productivity
• Reduced burden on the country’s healthcare system through improved public health
• A safer food supply, from farm to table
• Consumer confidence in the U.S. food supply leading to economic stability throughout the food sector
Figure 1 – Multistate Foodborne Disease Outbreaks by year, US, 1998-2018
Food security, on the other hand, refers to the availability and accessibility of safe, nutritious, and affordable food for all people at all times. Food security is affected by various factors, including population growth, climate change, and economic inequality. Achieving food security requires a sustainable food system that ensures food production and distribution are efficient, equitable, and environmentally friendly.
In a recent white paper published by the Center for Food Demand Analysis & Sustainability, food insecurity is described as the limited or uncertain availability of nutrient-adequate and safe foods or the inability to obtain such foods in socially acceptable ways. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that 13.5 million U.S. households, or 10.2% of all households, faced food insecurity in 2021 (Figures 2 and 3). This means that they had trouble providing adequate food for themselves and their family members due to a lack of resources.
Figure 2 – Trends in Food Security, 2000-2020
Figure 3 – Food Insecurity in the United States
Both food safety and food security are crucial for the agriculture and food industry. Food safety is necessary to protect consumers from foodborne illnesses and to maintain consumer trust in the food industry. Food security is essential to ensure that all people have access to sufficient and nutritious food, which is a basic human right.
However, there are several challenges in achieving both food safety and food security. These include changing weather patterns, increasing demand for food, food waste, and food loss.
Challenges regarding Food Safety and Food Security in the Agriculture and Food industry: A Jobs to be Done perspective:
Below we explore some opportunities regarding Food Safety and Food Security in agriculture and food from a number of different angles. We use the lens of the Jobs-to-be-done framework conceived by Clayton Christensen and popularized by Alexander Osterwalder in his Value Proposition Canvas framework. The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework can help identify the emerging challenges and guide Food Safety and Food Security -focused startups to develop innovative solutions to address the needs of the future.
A way to organize the overarching jobs in this space is to split it into food safety and food security and then consider the basic blocks of user journeys in both cases. Using that lens, we can propose several “meta-jobs” under which we can find many specific jobs across various customers:
Food Safety:
1. Job: Maintain food safety standards
Minimum safety standards are set by regulators, whether governmental, industry-based, or within an organization. The maintenance of practices up to that standard across the board is a constant task that is solved in a variety of ways today. Training, protocols, and a wide range of technologies are used to uphold and exceed those minimums.
Ask: What is the standard? If an industry or operator is not meeting it 100% of the time, what is the cost, if anything?
2. Job: Identify food safety events
Constant vigilance is the only way to ensure food safety events can be addressed. Ongoing surveillance of processes helps to spot acute problems, and tracing of a pathogen or other concern enables a reactive response. In some cases, increased likelihood of these events might be predictable and outbreaks prevented.
Ask: What are the most common types of events identified, or the easiest to miss? How is the current approach performing? Who has the greatest incentive to ensure identification?
3. Job: Mitigate food safety events
Food safety events like pathogen outbreaks and other adverse events can grind a food value chain to a halt, create consumer backlash, and can lead to costly removals of inventory. Adverse events captured upstream that never reach consumers can still create expensive curative processes. Efficient and effective mitigation and response, including recalls, can limit the costs and spread of the problem.
Ask: Among events that require a response, which are currently most costly? How do existing responses perform? What are the cost to individuals, firms, and society of an acute event that justify new solutions? Who bears the cost? Who has incentive to enhance mitigation?
4. Job: Communicate food safety information
Adverse events must be communicated to many stakeholders, including public health authorities, customers, and suppliers. Rapid communication is not only regulated, but supports an efficient response and can help to rebuild customer confidence. In some ways, communication to solve the marketing problem of an adverse event is a more challenging than meeting regulatory requirements.
Ask: How do the communication jobs of an operator vary based on who they need to communicate to? How does an operator value that communication capacity? Which of those jobs are best solved by current solutions? Which are least?
Food Security
5. Job: Access food
The U.S. faces severe gaps in access to food. The barriers that limit an individual’s access to food can be driven by economics, geography, skills, time, and established behaviors. However, the most severe barriers tend to be systemic. Economics and geography create highly visible phenomena like food deserts. Many stakeholders have an interest in addressing nutritional gaps, but the shortfalls remain.
Ask: What types of actors have jobs to be done that include closing these gaps, either for public good or private gain? How would you measure material improvement against the problem?
6. Job: Ensure quality of accessible food
Where access to basic nutrition is sufficient, there are often still deficiencies in the quality and health of the food. Many attempts to create new access to quality food have relied on alternative, expensive farm-to-fork solutions, but these are not accessible to most consumers. In recent years, major food producers have responded to shifting consumer preferences and doubled down on product lines that focus on the health and quality of mass market foods.
Ask: Who are the actors who have jobs to be done that align with increasing access to high quality food?
7. Job: Afford food
Even when food is available in sufficient quality, one of the hardest barriers to remove is the individual affordability of food. Government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) deploy tens of billions of dollars annually to address the problem, but still struggle to remove parts of the affordability barrier. Non-profit organizations and companies take diverse approaches, including direct assistance, produce upcycling, and new products. Unpacking why the affordability problem persists requires a deep dive into the drivers.
Ask: Which actors have jobs to be done to reduce the financial cost of food to consumers? What are the material drivers of the affordability problem? Which can be addressed?
DIAL Ventures, the innovation arm of the Purdue Applied Research Institute, tackles big problems facing the U.S. and the world such as food safety, supply chain efficiency, sustainability, and environmental impact. DIAL Ventures creates new companies that drive innovation in the agri-food industry which, in turn, makes a positive impact on our lives and lifestyles for years to come.
If you are interested in becoming a DIAL Ventures Fellow or Corporate Partner, contact us at info@dialventures.com.
In the context of agriculture and the food industry, two critical concepts are food safety and food security. Both concepts are essential to ensure that the food produced and consumed is safe, nutritious, and accessible.
Food safety refers to the measures taken to prevent food contamination and to ensure that the food is safe for consumption. Food contamination can occur due to biological, chemical, or physical hazards, such as pathogens, pesticides, or foreign objects. To ensure food safety, food companies must implement food safety management systems that include hazard analysis, critical control point (HACCP) plans, good manufacturing practices (GMPs), and regular inspections.
Each year, millions of Americans suffer (Figure 1) — and thousands die — from foodborne illnesses. This is a preventable problem that is damaging to both individuals and the economy, but many of these illnesses can be prevented. Ongoing food safety improvements, in addition to reducing foodborne illnesses, can yield economic and social benefits:
• Reduced loss of income and health care costs for the affected individual
• Improved productivity
• Reduced burden on the country’s healthcare system through improved public health
• A safer food supply, from farm to table
• Consumer confidence in the U.S. food supply leading to economic stability throughout the food sector
Figure 1 – Multistate Foodborne Disease Outbreaks by year, US, 1998-2018
Food security, on the other hand, refers to the availability and accessibility of safe, nutritious, and affordable food for all people at all times. Food security is affected by various factors, including population growth, climate change, and economic inequality. Achieving food security requires a sustainable food system that ensures food production and distribution are efficient, equitable, and environmentally friendly.
In a recent white paper published by the Center for Food Demand Analysis & Sustainability, food insecurity is described as the limited or uncertain availability of nutrient-adequate and safe foods or the inability to obtain such foods in socially acceptable ways. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that 13.5 million U.S. households, or 10.2% of all households, faced food insecurity in 2021 (Figures 2 and 3). This means that they had trouble providing adequate food for themselves and their family members due to a lack of resources.
Figure 2 – Trends in Food Security, 2000-2020
Figure 3 – Food Insecurity in the United States
Both food safety and food security are crucial for the agriculture and food industry. Food safety is necessary to protect consumers from foodborne illnesses and to maintain consumer trust in the food industry. Food security is essential to ensure that all people have access to sufficient and nutritious food, which is a basic human right.
However, there are several challenges in achieving both food safety and food security. These include changing weather patterns, increasing demand for food, food waste, and food loss.
Challenges regarding Food Safety and Food Security in the Agriculture and Food industry: A Jobs to be Done perspective:
Below we explore some opportunities regarding Food Safety and Food Security in agriculture and food from a number of different angles. We use the lens of the Jobs-to-be-done framework conceived by Clayton Christensen and popularized by Alexander Osterwalder in his Value Proposition Canvas framework. The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework can help identify the emerging challenges and guide Food Safety and Food Security -focused startups to develop innovative solutions to address the needs of the future.
A way to organize the overarching jobs in this space is to split it into food safety and food security and then consider the basic blocks of user journeys in both cases. Using that lens, we can propose several “meta-jobs” under which we can find many specific jobs across various customers:
Food Safety:
1. Job: Maintain food safety standards
Minimum safety standards are set by regulators, whether governmental, industry-based, or within an organization. The maintenance of practices up to that standard across the board is a constant task that is solved in a variety of ways today. Training, protocols, and a wide range of technologies are used to uphold and exceed those minimums.
Ask: What is the standard? If an industry or operator is not meeting it 100% of the time, what is the cost, if anything?
2. Job: Identify food safety events
Constant vigilance is the only way to ensure food safety events can be addressed. Ongoing surveillance of processes helps to spot acute problems, and tracing of a pathogen or other concern enables a reactive response. In some cases, increased likelihood of these events might be predictable and outbreaks prevented.
Ask: What are the most common types of events identified, or the easiest to miss? How is the current approach performing? Who has the greatest incentive to ensure identification?
3. Job: Mitigate food safety events
Food safety events like pathogen outbreaks and other adverse events can grind a food value chain to a halt, create consumer backlash, and can lead to costly removals of inventory. Adverse events captured upstream that never reach consumers can still create expensive curative processes. Efficient and effective mitigation and response, including recalls, can limit the costs and spread of the problem.
Ask: Among events that require a response, which are currently most costly? How do existing responses perform? What are the cost to individuals, firms, and society of an acute event that justify new solutions? Who bears the cost? Who has incentive to enhance mitigation?
4. Job: Communicate food safety information
Adverse events must be communicated to many stakeholders, including public health authorities, customers, and suppliers. Rapid communication is not only regulated, but supports an efficient response and can help to rebuild customer confidence. In some ways, communication to solve the marketing problem of an adverse event is a more challenging than meeting regulatory requirements.
Ask: How do the communication jobs of an operator vary based on who they need to communicate to? How does an operator value that communication capacity? Which of those jobs are best solved by current solutions? Which are least?
Food Security
5. Job: Access food
The U.S. faces severe gaps in access to food. The barriers that limit an individual’s access to food can be driven by economics, geography, skills, time, and established behaviors. However, the most severe barriers tend to be systemic. Economics and geography create highly visible phenomena like food deserts. Many stakeholders have an interest in addressing nutritional gaps, but the shortfalls remain.
Ask: What types of actors have jobs to be done that include closing these gaps, either for public good or private gain? How would you measure material improvement against the problem?
6. Job: Ensure quality of accessible food
Where access to basic nutrition is sufficient, there are often still deficiencies in the quality and health of the food. Many attempts to create new access to quality food have relied on alternative, expensive farm-to-fork solutions, but these are not accessible to most consumers. In recent years, major food producers have responded to shifting consumer preferences and doubled down on product lines that focus on the health and quality of mass market foods.
Ask: Who are the actors who have jobs to be done that align with increasing access to high quality food?
7. Job: Afford food
Even when food is available in sufficient quality, one of the hardest barriers to remove is the individual affordability of food. Government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) deploy tens of billions of dollars annually to address the problem, but still struggle to remove parts of the affordability barrier. Non-profit organizations and companies take diverse approaches, including direct assistance, produce upcycling, and new products. Unpacking why the affordability problem persists requires a deep dive into the drivers.
Ask: Which actors have jobs to be done to reduce the financial cost of food to consumers? What are the material drivers of the affordability problem? Which can be addressed?
DIAL Ventures, the innovation arm of the Purdue Applied Research Institute, tackles big problems facing the U.S. and the world such as food safety, supply chain efficiency, sustainability, and environmental impact. DIAL Ventures creates new companies that drive innovation in the agri-food industry which, in turn, makes a positive impact on our lives and lifestyles for years to come.
If you are interested in becoming a DIAL Ventures Fellow or Corporate Partner, contact us at info@dialventures.com.