An Analysis of Food Safety and Environmental Health in South Australia

This report delves into the critical environmental health issue of food safety in South Australia, analyzing the driving forces, pressures, and effects within the DPSEEA framework. It explores factors such as population growth, waste release, and lack of awareness, highlighting their impact on food poisoning incidents. The report further examines social, political, and economic influences not captured by the framework, like governmental stability and globalization. It then discusses management strategies, including the roles of health agencies and community groups in promoting awareness, implementing food safety standards, and addressing policy gaps. The report suggests sustainable goals, improved postharvest practices, and education programs to mitigate food safety challenges and improve public health. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of policy implementation and addressing gaps to improve the health and well-being of South Australians.

Global and
Environmental Health
Issue

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Driving forces, pressure and effects relevant to South Australia and food safety issue........1
Social, political and economic influences on issues which are not being captured by the
DPSEEA framework..............................................................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................4
Ways of management of environmental health issue along with role of an existing health
agencies and community group..............................................................................................4
Suggestions to address gap in current policy and management for food safety issue............5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Global and environmental health issues refers all those diseases which mainly occur due to
natural resources pollution like water, soil, air pollution, chemical exposure, climate change and
ultraviolet radiation which contribute more than 100 disease Frumkin, (2016). This present study
is going to show some driving forces, pressure and effects related to food safety issue and their
impacts on health. Further, it will also show some effective ways and policies of managing
environmental health issues for improving living standard and overall health quality of people.
PART 1
Driving forces, pressure and effects relevant to South Australia and food safety issue
In the context of food and safety environmental health issue it can be said that food poisoning
and this issue is becoming very serious for South Australian as the largest number of cases has
been recorded. There are several factors which are associated with this environmental health
issue and for knowing driving forces and effects relevant to this it can be better understood with
DPSEEA framework which is as like pressure-state-impact response framework Boylan &
et.al., (2018).
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Figure 1: Driving forces-pressure-state-exposure-effects-action framework
Sources: Driving force and Effects of Food Safety Issues, (2020)
As per this framework some pressures and driving forces are being identified such as:
water, population growth. So, overall it can be said that one of the main pressure which is
affecting this health issues is human activities like waste release, state of ambient environmental
quality or lack of resource availability, impacts having because of ambient consequences on
well-being and policies response can solved out this issue like education awareness, hazard
management and policy implementation .
Driving forces
Population growth rate: It is one of the main driving force of food safety issue in South
Australia. For managing food and maintaining it and providing food to all people, food handlers
add some non-nutritional values of products in it while preparing. Lack of resources of managing
quality is also one of the main force because it is increasing unemployment rate and due to poor
economy, it becomes difficult in investing in technologies.
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Lack of awareness: Food handlers do not have proper knowledge of managing food safety and
hygiene. Due to lack of hygiene. It is stated that in South Australia many cases of food poisoning
are caused by food handlers because they continue to handle food even after becoming ill
Personal Hygiene and Food Safety, (2020).
Pressure
Waste release: Because of increasing population, lack of resource and lack of educational
awareness people become fail in managing waste and reducing waste. There is lack of waste
reduction techniques and sanitation which caused this problem. Due to increasing waste release
and improper ways of managing them, illness and food poisoning increasing.
Effects
Food safety issue is affecting health of people of South Australia as it is stated that many
children in an after hour care facility fall ill with gastroenteritis because of inadequate sanitizing
procedure Hojnik & Ruzzier, (2016).
Social, political and economic influences on issues which are not being captured by the DPSEEA
framework
There are some PEST factors which are being associated with environmental health issues like
food and safety, hazardous situations, waste management, disaster and others but some factors
are not being addressed by the DPSEEA framework and need to be considered in order to
improve quality of health of people.
Political: There are several political factors which are associated with food safety issue and other
environmental issues such as: governmental stability and their roles, regulation trends, tax
policy, environmental and consumer protection legislation and other likely changes in political
stability. Rather, these factors there are some other factors which may be associated with issues
and need to be considered by this framework such as: corruption, policy related to quota
reservation and employability das Neves Almeida & et.al., (2017).
Economic: It includes inflation rates, project economic growth, unemployment as well as labour
supply, labour costs and level of disposable income. It is stated that globalization is one of the
main economic factor which is associated with all environmental issues and affect health to the
great extent.
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Social: Population growth rate is one of the main driving force and factor associated with
environmental issues. Employment patterns, job market freedom, education, social attitudes are
some other factors. But one of the other main factor which need to be considered by this
framework include: press attitude, public opinion and lifestyle choices as it increasing wealth gap
also.
PART 2
Ways of management of environmental health issue along with role of an existing health
agencies and community group
There are several environmental issues and for that health agencies play an important role in
mitigating and eliminating them. One of the main environmental issues of South Australia which
is affecting health of people to the great extent is food and safety.
Some health and safety management institutes and communities are focusing on increasing
awareness among people and food handlers because one of the main cause found out is lack of
awareness and hygiene by food handlers. In this education awareness and training programmes,
all restaurants and institutions are making their staff aware about personal hygiene, preparing
food, effective cleaning and sanitizing process. It is also stated that food workers in South
Australia are bound to follow food standard 3.2.2 which make sure that all staff members and
food handlers have knowledge and skills of managing food quality and performing their roles in
an effective manner Food Safety Issues for South Australian, (2017). They are also being allotted
one food safety supervisor who also make sure that all staff are performing their roles with
effectively and by maintaining hygiene like using washed utensils, washing hands properly
before and after preparing food. Food safety institutions and health agencies also make sure that
all restaurants and food service providers have license and are responsible for food and safety.
There is some other legislation which required to be followed by business and make sure that
food which is being sold by them to customers are maintained properly and handled in a way that
ensures safety Santana & et.al., (2018). As per legislation they also require proper labelling
having all details like expiry date, manufacturing date, ingredients used in it as it allows
customers to have proper information before having it and improving their health. In South
Australia, all food business are required to follow and comply with the food act 2001 as well as
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Australia New Zealand food standard code in order to improve quality of food products and
improving health of people as well as protecting themselves against lawsuit.
Suggestions to address gap in current policy and management for food safety issue
For improving health and quality of food it is important to mind the gaps as how can food
safety management institutions can manage food safety gaps. Before identifying and minding the
gap it is important to identify the main issue which is meeting demands of growing population
and maintaining public health worldwide Panghal & et.al., (2018).. Food and safety issue are
affecting people to the great extent for the long run and due to illness it is also affecting
employment, poverty, productivity and economy as well.
So, in this regard it can be suggested that by developing sustainable goals, giving proper
attention of using horticultural crops and animal source foods, improving to postharvest, quality
can be maintained to the great extent. It can also affect health of people and make them able to
perform activities in an effective manner and also living a long term life. When people feel free
from illness and healthy then they are more likely to put efforts in improving economy so,
overall it can be said that by focusing on all these areas and addressing gap, employment,
economy and health can be improved Addressing Food Safety Gaps, (2018).
In addition, it can also be suggested by developing some education and training program,
this gap can be addressed because education and knowledge is one of the main thing which can
help people in maintaining quality of food and hygiene as well. By doing so, all people and
community member can teach their children of managing quality and all essential things for
maintaining hygiene like washing hands, vegetables, utensils before preparing and after having
food. So, overall it can be said that by implementing legislations, developing awareness
programs and using all above discussed resources like horticultural crops and others, food and
safety issues can be mitigated.
Conclusion
From the above study it has been summarized that policy implementation played an
important role in management of environmental issues as it allows all people to follow relevant
guidelines and protecting themselves against consequences of issues. Further, it has shown some
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political, social, environmental, driving forces of food safety issues which is affecting health o
South Australian. Lastly it has discussed some ways of reducing gap and environmental issues.
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7

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Boylan, S. & et.al., (2018). A conceptual framework for climate change, health and wellbeing in
NSW, Australia. Public Health Res Pract. 28(4). e2841826.
das Neves Almeida, T. A. & et.al., 2017). Economic growth and environmental impacts: An
analysis based on a composite index of environmental damage. Ecological
Indicators 76. 119-130.
Frumkin, H. (Ed.). (2016). Environmental health: from global to local. John Wiley & Sons.
Hojnik, J., & Ruzzier, M. (2016). The driving forces of process eco-innovation and its impact on
performance: Insights from Slovenia. Journal of Cleaner Production. 133. 812-825.
Panghal, A. & et.al., (2018). Role of food safety management systems in safe food production: A
review. Journal of food safety. 38(4). e12464.
Santana, M. J. & et.al., (2018). How to practice person‐centred care: A conceptual
framework. Health Expectations. 21(2). 429-440.
ONLINE
Driving force and Effects of Food Safety Issues. 2020. Online Available through: <
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Driving-force-Pressure-State-Exposure-Effect-
Action-framework-reproduced-with-permission_fig4_51574836>
Personal Hygiene and Food Safety. 2020. Online Available through: <
https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/
conditions/food+safety/keeping+your+food+safe/personal+hygiene+and+food+safety>
Food Safety Issues for South Australians. 2017. Online Available through: <
https://www.foodsafety.com.au/news/food-safety-south-australia#:~:text=Food
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%20Adelaide.>
Addressing Food Safety Gaps. 2018. Online Available through: <
https://academic.oup.com/af/article/8/4/16/5124553>
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