Climate Change: Unpacking the Burden on Food Safety
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8 FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY SERIES ISSN 2415-1173 CLIMATE CHANGE: UNPACKING THE BURDEN ON FOOD SAFETY CLIMATE CHANGE: UNPACKING THE BURDEN ON FOOD SAFETY FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS ROME, 2020 Required citation: FAO. 2020. Climate change: Unpacking the burden on food safety. Food safety and quality series No. 8. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8185en The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. 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Cover photos (from left to right): Flooded marketplace in Cambodia, © mrmichaelangelo/ Shutterstock.com; algal blooms (red tide) off the coast of Greece, © Gr-Siamidis/ Shutterstock.com; corn damaged by fungal infection, © Budimir Jevtic/ Shutterstock.com Design and layout: studio Bartoleschi CONTENTS Preface ........................................................................................................................................ ix Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................................x Acronyms................................................................................................................................... xi Executive summary ................................................................................................................. xiii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 1 Section I: Objectives and scope of the document ........................................................ 4 Section II: Climate change – current status and future risks ....................................... 6 Section III: Interlinkages between food security and food safety ............................ 10 CHAPTER 2.A FOODBORNE PATHOGENS AND PARASITES ..............................................................13 Section I: Climate change and foodborne pathogens ................................................ 14 Section II: Implications of climate change for selected foodborne pathogens and parasites ................................................................................................................ 17 Section III: Indirect effects of climate change on food safety ................................... 22 Section IV: Antimicrobial resistance .......................................................................... 24 Section V: Conclusions................................................................................................ 29 CHAPTER 2.B ALGAL BLOOMS......................................................................................................31 Section I: Climate change impacts on algal blooms ................................................... 36 Section II: Dead zones – a consequence of algal blooms ........................................... 44 Section III: Conclusions ............................................................................................. 45 CHAPTER 2.C HEAVY METALS ......................................................................................................49 Section I: Climate change impacts on heavy metal contamination ........................... 50 Section II: Conclusions ............................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER 2.D METHYLMERCURY ..................................................................................................55 Section I: Climate change impacts on methylmercury contamination ..................... 60 Section II: Conclusions ............................................................................................... 63 iii CHAPTER 2.E PESTICIDES ..........................................................................................................65 Section I: Climate change impacts on pesticide use and subsequent effects ............. 67 Section II: Conclusions ............................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 2.F MYCOTOXINS .........................................................................................................75 Section I: Climate change impacts on mycotoxin contamination ............................. 79 Section II: Conclusions ............................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER 3 EMERGING ISSUES AND INTELLIGENCE GATHERING ................................................87 Microplastics ............................................................................................................... 88 Novel food production systems ................................................................................. 89 Novel food sources ..................................................................................................... 90 Geoengineering (or climate engineering) ................................................................... 92 Technological advances and digitalization ................................................................. 92 CHAPTER 4 THE WAY FORWARD ...............................................................................................95 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................99 iv FIGURES Figure 1. Some major milestones in climate change science – with emphasis on the discovery of the contribution of CO2 to global warming. Some key UN agreements are also shown ...................................................................... 4 Figure 2. When climate change-induced temperatures are much higher than the pathogen’s thermal optimum, there might be a shift in the number of infection cycles per season ............................................................................................. 15 Figure 3. Parasites scored according to criteria related to the quantity and severity of global diseases, the global distribution of the illnesses, disruption to trade and the likelihood of increased human burden .................................................................... 21 Figure 4. Estimated number of algal blooms in the United States of America since 2010, based on data compiled by the Environmental Working Group ................................. 37 Figure 5. Relationship between harmful algal blooms (mean numbers) and fertilizer usage (million tonnes per year) reported along the eastern coast of China. .......................... 41 Figure