Calibration is essential to manage global food safety challenges

Having enough food available to feed the world is one issue, but equally important is the quality and safety of that food. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has calculated that around 600 million people around the globe –almost 10% – experience some kind of food-borne illness. Even more concerning is the finding that every year nearly 420,000 people die as a result of unsafe food – roughly 125,000 of them children. While the human tragedy is enormous, the financial wastage is also shocking, with close to $110bn lost through avoidable medical costs and poor productivity levels due to the proliferation of food that is not safe to consume.

Saving lives and minimising illnesses are paramount and trying to achieve these goals has put significant new pressures on the food industry. Robust systems need to be put in place to not only ensure that food meets the required safety and quality standards, but also that there is access to accurately recorded data which is capable of providing unarguable and reliable traceability. 

Firstly, we need to address why there is a need to monitor and control food quality on a continual basis by examining what can go wrong and how measuring instruments can play their part in tackling the problem. 

To begin with, it is important to measure not just the mass and volume of food but also temperature, pressure and humidity with regard to its production and storage. The quality of food can reduce rapidly if standards governing its treatment are not adhered to. If humidity is not controlled, for example, mould growth on dry goods can become an issue which will shorten its shelf life. Crucial commodities such as grain and wheat can be rendered unusable through excessive levels of humidity.

In the same way, if the pressure in storage tanks goes outside the required levels, microbiological contamination can cause problems during the homogenisation process of various foodstuffs (critical to food canning). Likewise, the taste of soft drinks, milk, beer or other bottling applications can be compromised by pressure that is too high or too low.

Equally, if food becomes too hot or too cold its quality can be adversely affected, which is why temperature measurements are critical to ensuring food is transported, cooked and stored properly to maintain freshness and prevent biological contamination. Thermometers inside temperature-controlled transport vehicles and commercial refrigeration systems, for example, are typical of the type of sensors used to monitor the condition of temperature-sensitive food products. At the same time, infrared thermometers can be used to measure the surface temperatures of food at the point of delivery to ensure they comply with food temperature monitoring requirements. Within restaurants and other food outlets, internal food temperatures are checked using probe food thermometers. 

However, to avoid all of the above food contamination issues, putting standards and thresholds in place is only part of the solution. Yes, measuring equipment is able to check against set levels but how does the user know that the tools tasked with doing that job are reliable and accurate? If they are not, then their use will be ineffective, which could create a whole plethora of serious problems.

Not only would carrying out measurements with tools that have not been comprehensively calibrated undermine the ability of food suppliers to guarantee the quality and safety of their food, but it could also put the health and wellbeing of millions of people at risk. In other words, the ability to manage food systems and improve efficiencies is only possible with the capacity to take, store and analyse measurements accurately.

Without calibration the data produced by measuring equipment can quickly become meaningless and compromise is clearly not an option when it comes to securing a quality food supply. 

As they continue to become more accurate, measurement instruments can reduce downtime and boost productivity by ensuring faster calibration while also delivering results of the highest accuracy within the shortest timeframes.

However, just as important as accuracy is traceability. With increasing numbers of tests being carried out outside laboratories and in the field using hand-held equipment, it is becoming more important that there is a traceable calibration record assigned to every measuring device that is used. 

In summary, it is clear that accurate measurements can help to deal with the challenges the global food system faces today and into the foreseeable future by making it possible to improve food safety, nutrition and yield. Every step of the food production and treatment cycle – from the field to the plate – must be monitored and checked and checked again by carrying out a vast array of measurements. Every operator in the food sector must meet the strictest requirements and be seen to be meeting them. There must be reliable proof and evidence that the food people need to survive is of the highest possible quality and the only way to achieve this is to calibrate every measurement tool is used. 

Without calibration, the world’s food problems cannot be solved, and millions of people will continue to suffer.