The impact of globalisation on food safety
Summary
Globalisation is a universal phenomenon, having a growing influence on all the European countries including Hungary . The phenomenon has several definitions pointing to the penetration of nameless multinational capital into national marketplaces where the rule of foreign capital has been growing in the interest of achieving the maximum of profit. The financial and economic system of the EU speeds up its penetration. Its sole characteristic is the profit principal, constantly conquering new national economies and leaving behind devastated ones.
The author states that food safety is a quantitative as well as qualitative category, meaning that the consumed product does not cause any microbiological, toxicological, or radiological damage to the health.
Globalisation has its negative consequences on food production and sale. The gradual separation of the producers’ and consumers’ spheres results in the anonymity of the origin of the product, which, in its turn, leads to the withering away of the producer’s sense of responsibility. A system of procurement, processing and distribution is wedged between the producer and the consumer, with the sole aim of rapid returns at high rates of profit. Meanwhile the observance of safety requirements is pushed into the background, enhancing risks.
Globalisation reshapes agricultural production, enhancing its concentration, pushing the traditional plant and animal species out of the production. The omnipotence of the free flow of goods ensures only the possibility of subsequent and not preliminary control. It has resulted in major epidemics of foot and mouth disease and in BSE in several West European countries. The abandonment of strict professional control has resulted in a critical situation of animal health, food safety and public health in several countries of Europe .
Another area of danger is the use of various materials (hormones, antibiotics, etc.) for enhancing productivity. In addition there is the appearance of GMOs, though their use is not yet permitted in Hungary , but legitimised in the US . Another risk factor is the use of all sorts of additives that are supposed to improve the colour, smell, consistency and longer use-up time of products. The E-numbers may be harmless by themselves, but it is yet unknown whether they damage the human organism at the end of digestion.
Food habits and practice also undergo changes under the impact of globalisation: fast food with its universal offer runs counter to the healthy practice of nutrition.
Finally the author refers to protectionist legal norms discriminating against the export of Hungarian products. He warns that a new economic policy should be urgently introduced in order to eliminate alarming phenomena in the field of food production and safety and to promote our national interests.
Dr. Attila Nagy
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