New Technology for Ensuring Food Safety: Innovations, Challenges, and Impact

Introduction
Food safety is a major challenge for health systems worldwide, with the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating that 600 million people fall ill after eating contaminated food, and 420,000 die each year (Safety, 2024). It is imperative that the global food supply chains are complex and, together with growing consumer demand for safe and high-quality food products, require innovative approaches to tackle food safety risks. According to FAO (2025) foodborne illnesses cost about $110 billion a year in lost productivity and medical costs. To address these chal lenges, advanced technologies including blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), biosensors, and automation offer advancements in traceability, predictive analytics, and contamination prevention. This essay takes an analytical view at the effects of new technologies on food safety assessing pertinent case studies and assessing economic and social effects, particularly in BRICS+ countries.
Current Challenges in Food Safety 
 Food supply chain has several stages right fr om production, processing, dis tribution and consumption; therefore, maintaining food safety at each stage of this chain is crucial, as potential risks associated with food products can be manifested at any of these stages. Contamination at any step of the supply chain is one of the major barriers. Biological contamination hazards come fr om bacteria, viruses, and parasites (Salmonella, etc.); Chemical contamination hazards (pesticide residues, etc.); and physical contamination hazards (metal fragments in food products, etc.). Traceability is another major challenge. In complex supply chains, pinpointing the source of contamination can be challenging, causing delays in the handling of food safety emergencies. This lack of rapid traceability of contaminated prod ucts risks not just public health, but also consumer confidence and market stabil ity. Food safety management is further complicated by regulatory compliance, as countries have different safety standards that must be adhered to. Such variation complicates compliance with international safety and quality standards for food producers and exporters and poses additional compliance burdens. To mitigate the challenges, innovative technological solutions to promote food safety practices, enhance traceability, and streamline regulatory compliance will become critical in the increasingly complex global food supply chain
 Advanced Technologies Enhancing Food Safety Blockchain Technology 
 Blockchain will provide an immutable distributed ledger technology (DLT) for the whole food product traceability system. It increases transparency, tracking everything from farm to plate and allowing for quick traceability during contamina tion events. According to one study from Deloitte, the technology might help reduce food recall costs by nearly 30%, largely through scaling back the scale of a recall, and thus revenue loss due to markets being shuttered for an extended period. According to Kamath (2018) Walmart is one of the major retailers to adopt a blockchain-based system, IBM Food Trust, to increase its transparency and tractability. In one case, it assisted Walmart in cutting the time required to trace a batch of mangoes from one week to 2.2 seconds, vastly increasing the speed at which a company can respond to food safety inquiries. To further improve traceability, Zespri, a worldwide kiwifruit marketer, utilizes blockchain innovation for its fruit exports, enabling real-time sup ply tracking and improving food safety (Begum, 2024).
 Internet of Things 
 Internet of Things (IoT) devices enable real-time monitoring of the tempera ture, humidity, and other environmental conditions during food storage and trans portation. Sensors sense temperature, humidity and other variables required to ensure food safety standards. For example, one application of IoT technology in the dairy industry includes Internet of things (IoT) temperature sensors used to mon itor refrigerator units to make sure that the milk remains at the right temperature. As analyzed by Bhushan (2024) Technology like this decreased spoilage rates by 30% for businesses such as Arla Foods, increasing both food safety and profitabil ity. There are also investments made by the Chinese government in IoT that could help improve the safety of food, especially in the pork industry, wh ere IoT systems improve traceability and safety fr om farm to table (Wang, 2018).
 Artificial Intelligence Outbreaks can be predicted early on, through AI-powered predictive analytics that can spot patterns in food safety data. This includes image recognition and data analysis, along with the help of AI for quality control. A successful example is an AI model developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that successfully predicts when a foodborne illness outbreak might occur by studying search engine data and restaurant reviews (Shehzad, 2024). Nestlé employs artificial intelligence-based systems to track quality in its supply chain, especially to identify aflatoxins in dairy products, which helps lower the risk of con tamination by 15%. 
 Biosensors and Nanotechnology 
 Biosensors are alarming components that can identify pathogens and con taminants in food products in a precise and swift manner. This process is enhanced by nanotechnology, which incorporates ultra-sensitive detectors. One advanced technique in this area is the application of electro spun nanofibers from various natural biopolymers, such as chitosan, which is obtained from the shells of e.g. crustaceans. While still experimental and far from being implemented on a large scale, this technology is a potential path forward for sustainable food packaging. Chitosan is a biopolymer that exerts antimicrobial effects against several pathogens and improves the shelf life of food products by reducing their exposure to microorganisms and air, which helps in better retention of food quality over extended periods. The addition of an inner layer of chitosan to food containers can contribute to food safety. This is not only a means of preserving food products better but also a way to help sustainability objectives by cutting down on excessive food produc tion (Tamzid, 2024). Chitosan-based nanotechnology helps achieve food security by enhancing food storage conditions and providing a viable solution to one of the greatest global challenges for resource management and food waste reduction. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found that packaging materials coated in chitosan prevent bacterial growth in fresh produce and extend their shelf life by up to 40% longer than standard packaging methods (Bhushan, 2024).
Socio-Economic Benefits 
Innovative food safety technologies provide large cost reductions and efficiency gains. Deloitte (2023) found that adopting blockchain could cut the costs of food recalls by as much as 30%, mainly by containing recalls before they become wide spread while preventing revenue losses from lengthy market disruptions. Automa tion and IoT technologies make supply chains much efficient by offering real-time insights into inventory, storage conditions, and logistics, decreasing waste, and increasing productivity. This economic potential is illustrated by the World Bank, which indicates that BRICS+ countries could increase food exports by as much as 20% if they were to invest in food safety technologies (Halim, 2024). Socially, the improvements in food safety using these technologies improves the overall health, as it decreases the occurrences of foodborne diseases (Bhushan, 2024). Detection and prevention technologies that enable and even predict contamination are also pro ducing food that, as it reaches consumers, is higher in quality and safety. For example, transparency enabled by technologies such as blockchain creates consumer trust, especially in foreign markets. For instance, the use of predictive models using data such as the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) allows for proactive management of food safety risks enables companies to rapidly adjust to new threats as they arise
 Opportunities in BRICS+ Countries 
A significant opportunity exists with countries like Brazil and India with high agricultural productivity. As one of the world’s largest agricultural product exporters, technologies improving food safety and traceability could mean a big win for Brazil. In many cases, if Brazilian beef producers embraced blockchain technology they would be able to satisfy stringent international safety standards, leading to new markets and less of the economic damage of recalls (Santos, 2024). Similarly, with an extensive agricultural economy, India can leverage technologies like IoT to track vegetation sta tus, manage supply chains and prevent wastage post-harvest. The implementation of these technologies could also help mitigate food safety risks in India’s large dairy industry, wh ere transport temperature needs to be monitored to prevent spoilage. China’s projects in smart agriculture represent yet another case wh ere tech nological opportunities are being seized. Chinese IoT and blockchain investment in food supply chain safety and in the pork industry, blockchain is helping ensure traceability from farm to table, helping restore trust with consumers after previous food safety scandals (Halim, 2024).
 Challenges for BRICS+ Countries
 Lack of infrastructure, particularly in rural and underdeveloped regions, is one of the biggest hurdles to implementing advanced technologies. As analyzed by (Kamath, 2018) In India good internet connectivity and availability of modern technological tools are still some of the basic needs of rural farming communities, preventing the deployment of IoT devices and blockchain systems. Likewise, in South Africa, advanced food safety technologies may work well in urban centers but rural areas lack adequate infrastructure necessary for such advanced predictive analytics and automation technologies used in agricultural and food processing (Bhushan, 2024).
Regulatory hurdles are also a major barrier. It can be costly and complex to align national food safety regulations with global standards such as the ones set by the Codex Alimentarius. Such misaligned regulations create discrepancy in food safety within the domestic market and also particularly raises challenges for international trade. For example, Russia has food safety regulations that differ substantially from the European Union and the United States increasing Russian food exports. There are some significant hurdles to harmonizing these regulations that would take a long time of lobbying between regulatory bodies, industry stakeholders, and inter national organizations, which can be a very slow and politically charged process (Shamtsyan, 2014)
 Economic Potential of Overcoming Challenges 
According to the World Bank, investments in food safety technologies can potentially increase food exports from BRICS+ countries by up to 20%, show ing the economic potential (Shehzad, 2024). If Brazil and India had cutting-edge traceability technologies in use, the countries could have bolstered their credibility in world markets, and thus drive greater demand for agriculture products. Similarly, more effective food safety systems in China could enhance the export credibility of its product, thus lowering the risk of trade restrictions predicated on food safety issues.
 Conclusion
 Synergies between advances in technologies have the potential to be trans formative in the area of food safety bringing economic benefits that also confer important social benefits. With a view towards fulfilling international regulatory requirements for trade, the BRICS+ nations can improve both domestic food safety while also building a more competitive market, closing infrastructure gaps and addressing gap and regulatory hurdles, particularly in developing markets. (Wang, 2018) This Transition should promote a more resilient global food supply chain, reduce health risk exposure, and catalyze performance through innovation that would strengthen economic performance
References 
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