How a newly graduated intern developed an interest in food safety

A recent graduate of the University of Bristol with a degree in biology, Hana Azuma, who comes from Japan, has joined the FAO Food Safety team as a food safety and biosafety intern to work on various projects. Working on some of the highly scientific projects such as safety assurance of food produced through various innovative methods is one of her future ambitions.

In this interview, she explains how she developed a passion for working toward ‘Zero Hunger’ and how improving plant production with biotechnologies could help with that.

-          How did you develop an interest in food safety?

Food production must increase by 70-100 percent by 2050 to meet global demand. Having majored in plant sciences and agricultural biotechnologies, I was fascinated by their promising potential to boost global agricultural output, especially in rural regions. However, it soon became evident that this technology is not always well perceived by the public, mainly rooted in concern about safety. That’s when I realized the importance of building consumer trust of science and actively engaging the public with evidence-based, scientific information on safety issues.

-          Can food safety contribute to sustainable food systems?

Yes, absolutely. If we take ‘safety’ out of the food systems equation, food security is impossible to achieve. This is because not only unsafe food/water directly relates to the risk of illness or death, but also causes food scarcity in the regions where toxic food has to be thrown away.

Moreover, with the rapidly changing climate, humanity will inevitably face crop failures due to the increase in extreme weather events and plant disease severity. This is where science and technology can play a critical role by for example genetically modifying crops to become resistant to flooding or culturing meat instead of rearing more cows to lower greenhouse gas emissions. But, without ensuring the safety in every process, we cannot utilize nor export these technologies to the regions that need them the most.

-          Why should young people care about food safety?

The future is in our hands. Food safety will be a persistent issue and thus we must keep fighting to not only protect health, but to also ensure that everyone has access to sufficient, nutritious and safe food. In the coming years, a surge in novel technologies and food products derived through such technologies is expected. Thus, young leaders must help transform food systems and continue to ensure the safety of the arising food and scientific advancements to accomplish our goal of ‘Zero Hunger’.

Click here to watch a video interview

Find out about the FAO Internship Programme