‘There are known knowns, known unknowns… [and] unknown unknowns – things we do not know we don't know.’
I can’t remember previously hearing former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld quoted at an Agency event, but this is exactly what Professor Declan Naughton did earlier this week at our National Science and Engineering session on the identification of future global food risks.
Professor Naughton of Kingston University, Fiona Lickorish of Cranfield University, Helen Roberts of Defra, Terry Donohoe of the FSA and Alec Kyriakides of Sainsbury’s brought their expertise to bear on the subject in front of an audience of about a hundred.
A panel discussion then considered what the global food risks picture might look like in a year’s time. Their view was that we would continue to see the same general pattern of incidents that we have seen for the past few years.
However, they also thought that the developing economic situation might encourage more fraudulent behaviour, leading to an increase in risk to the food supply.
The consensus was that regulators, enforcers and the food industry should continue to work together to protect consumers’ interests where there were concerns about threats to the safety or the quality of food.
One thing I do know is that, the presentations, and an audio recording of the event, will be published on food.gov.uk soon.