Food firms should review supply chain for Ebola

07-Nov-2014 - Last updated on 07-Nov-2014 at 11:03 GMT

Ebola could still hit the food industry

Food manufacturers should review their entire supply chains to check if their ingredients originate from regions affected by the Ebola outbreak, according to food safety firm Qadex.

The World Health Organisation has reported 13,703 cases of Ebola, leading to 4,920 deaths between December 2013 and October 27 2014,

There have been about 1,500 deaths in Sierra Leone and 40% of fields and farmlands have been deserted as workers fear Ebola outbreaks, Qadex claimed.

Qadex’s operations manager, Tracey Cranney, said it was important that each tier in the supply chain was considered by food firms to ensure they were not affected by the shortages in production from the region.

Country of origin

“These days most food manufacturers require detailed product specifications which include a recipe breakdown,” she said.

“Included in these recipe breakdowns is the country of origin of each ingredient, so if you have an electronic specification system you should be able to quickly search by country of origin, including all sub-ingredients in your ingredients.”

Those checks should repeated each time an Ebola outbreak was declared in another country or region, Cranney added.

While Ebola would not appear to present a direct food safety threat, the risk was more likely to arise from lack of ingredients availability or price spikes in the case of material shortages, she said.

Africa is a big exmorter of food produce to the EU, mainly in cocoa and flour products, Qadex claimed. The cocoa industry is already being stretched to the limits in terms of supply and demand, so any businesses relying on African cocoa should be vigilant, it added.

Meanwhile, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has confirmed earlier reports potential for transmission of Ebola through bushmeat illegally imported into Europe from Western and Central Africa was low.

But, EFSA warned that despite these uncertainties, the probability of a viable virus surviving transportation to Europe was higher in fresh or frozen meat after a short transport time.

It was lower in dried or smoked meat exposed to higher temperatures during transport.

Found in bushmeat

The Ebola virus had been found in bushmeat, which is meat derived from wild animals native to African forests, including fruit bats, gorillas, chimpanzees, and duikers, EFSA claimed.

“The import of bushmeat into the EU is not authorised,” it said. “To date there have been no reported cases of Ebola infection from handling, preparation and consumption of illegally imported bushmeat in the EU.”

The most effective measure to prevent the transmission of Ebola in Europe through bushmeat is the prevention of all illegal imports, EFSA said.

Meanwhile, expert speakers at last month’s Food Manufacture Group Food safety conference said the food industry must communicate the risk of foodborne Ebola was low.

Countries with widespread Ebola: