what are the drivers of poor food hygiene behaviours in households and food businesses, and how can food safety knowledge be best translated into safer practices?

Background

Foodborne disease (FBD) is a major public health risk with 2.4 million individual illnesses and more than 16,000 hospitalisations per year. It imposes an annual burden on society equivalent to £9.1 billion. The majority of human foodborne disease is caused by a handful of pathogens (including norovirus, campylobacter, salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and listeria) which, in most cases, enter the food chain from farmed animals or the environment.

In addition to FBD, the agri-food supply chain also poses a risk for the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Addressing the public health threat posed by AMR is an ongoing strategic priority for the UK and the Government has recently published its new 5-year AMR National Action Plan (NAP) 2024-29 (Opens in a new window), which sets out actions to slow the development and spread of AMR.

The overarching aim of this research priority is to provide evidence to enable the FSA to better control the spread of FBD and AMR within the food supply chain. For both threats, taking a ‘One Health’ approach is important, to understand the sources (e.g. livestock) and routes (e.g. food and environment) of infection and ultimately the impact (e.g. on humans).

As well as characterising new and emerging threats, we need to build our current understanding as to the attribution, prevalence, and nature of existing FBD and AMR risks, filling key evidence gaps which will support improved control measures and enhance food hygiene policy. We are also seeking to build capability in this area through development of new surveillance methods, which in turn can support the FSA’s work on trade and border inspections, as well as supporting broader disease and incident management.