Most Middle East (ME) countries depend on much imported food, partly because of lack of infrastructure and investment and partly because most land is not rehabilitated or suitable for agriculture. However, traditional food industries need to modernize to be competitive to reach export markets, and multi-national companies need to find the niche where they can develop markets within the region. Safe, secure and sustainable food supplies are especially critical where there is regime uncertainty and conflict, as we see in many ME countries today. On top of this, there is the risk of new diseases that can affect both agriculture and tourism, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) now linked to camels, milk, and possibly meat. Climate change is forcing farmers to use more untreated water for irrigation increasing the risks of pathogen transmission. This symposium will address both the local production challenges and those for developing or expanding food export markets, especially as now FSMA stipulates preventive actions in food safety. This is forcing some ME companies to address FSMA requirements, with a particular need for new technologies and certified food safety labs, especially where there are long supply chains from Sub-Saharan Africa. Foodborne disease surveillance is unable to identify and characterize most food-pathogen combinations. The challenges for the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA), include the diverging needs for specific Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) values. The increasing demand for a sustainable supply of food, raw materials and fuel is the major economic driving force behind growth of the KBBE in Europe over the last few decades and is now reaching the ME Region. Defining KBBE values regionally will be required for objectives, priorities, and actions, amongst which are harmonizing benchmarks by bioeconomy sector across GAFTA, and outlining preventive food safety regional drivers from farm to fork.

Presentations