Trust and the Food Safety Challenge

Can we trust the world to be able to feed 10 billion mouths in 2050? In this interview with Robert van Gorcom, director of Wageningen Food Safety Research he talks about the means to feed the world in 30 years in a sustainable way, respecting our planet. Science has to deliver the innovations necessary for the food production. There are 3 factors that create trust in food: sustainability, safety, and supply. Consumers expect nothing less than 100% safe foods but food production also involves risks. The food system we design has to be in balance with our planet. The food supply chain has been made too complex. Consumers do not realize enough that the price they pay in the supermarket is not the “real” price, because we don’t pay for the depletion of resources, we do not pay for animal welfare. He talks about the role of supermarkets, in stimulating trust by adding transparency to the food production system.