Mercadona’s Scientific Committee advocates for public-private collaboration in the face of misinformation in food safety

He Mercadona Scientific Committeemade up of independent scientists who provide technical support to the company, has met in Valencia with the aim of addressing the evaluation, management and communication of risk in terms of food safety and has opted for collaboration between companies and administrations to combat misinformation .

During the day, we welcomed Ana Canalsnewly incorporated, as a doctor in Biological Sciences and expert in risk management and evaluation in Public Administrations.

With its inclusion, the Committee in Spain now has a total of eleven professionals who provide technical support to always guarantee quality with the food safety of all its products, Mercadona explained in a statement.

The day took place in a work environment where the effects of misinformation in food safety on the consumer were discussed, how to inform about the risks, the myths and realities that revolve around them and the importance of rigor, truthfulness and transparency of informationamong other topics of interest.

Ana Canals, specifically, as an expert in risk assessment and management in the public sector, has explained the need for the private sector and Public Administrations to collaborate, “as involved”, in the fight against disinformation, in a conference in in which the scientists José Juan Rodríguez, doctor in veterinary medicine and expert microbiologist from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​and José Miguel Mulet, doctor in Biochemistry and expert in Molecular Biology from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, have also participated.

“It’s easy to misinform”

José Juan Rodríguez, for his part, has highlighted that “it is easy to misinform, mixing real information, in a manipulated environment. Currently there is a lot of public information, which reflects the main points in which the management of food production must be improved. “. For José Miguel Mulet, “the fake news they sell fear and a frightened consumer is an easy consumer to deceive.

Other experts present have also shared the same vision and shown great concern about this issue. “We live surrounded by what is now called fake news. They are present in all facets of our lives and food is not left out. It is time for all of us who truly investigate this area of ​​knowledge every day to show our faces, Let’s dismantle these hoaxes with scientific arguments and, above all, we explain to society what we are doing,” according to Daniel Ramón, doctor in Biological Sciences from the University of Valencia and currently vice president of R&D in Nutrition and Health at the North American company ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Co. ).

“Give truthful information to consumers”

The director of the Scientific Committee of Mercadona in Spain, Angels Millanhighlighted that, with this meeting, “the company makes progress in how to effectively address risk communication, which is of special relevance in the training of consumers so that they have truthful, scientifically based, transparent information. for the consumer and without bias, which does not encourage alarmism or overconfidence in matters of food safety.

In this new stage, he maintains his commitment to training, collaborating in master’s degrees and tutoring courses at the European Commission on food security crises, as well as in food security consultancies and committees.

For years, Mercadona has had external advice made up of 18 scientists of different specializations from Spain and Portugal, which provide training, information, technical support and scientific assistance in different specialties, with the aim of “guaranteeing maximum quality with food safety in the company’s processes and products.”

The Scientific Committee of Spain is made up, in addition to the scientists José Juan Rodríguez, José Miguel Mulet and Ana Canals, of Arturo Anadón, doctor in Veterinary Medicine (Complutense University of Madrid); Ana Troncoso, doctor in Pharmacy (University of Seville); Andrés Otero, doctor in Veterinary Medicine (University of León); Andreu Palou, doctor in Biochemistry (University of the Balearic Islands); Juan José Badiola, doctor in Veterinary Medicine (University of Zaragoza) and current president of the Committee; Pilar Vinardell, doctor in Pharmacy (University of Barcelona); Santiago Pascual, doctor in Biology (University of Vigo) and researcher at the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC); and Daniel Ramón, doctor in Biological Sciences (Universitat de València) and currently vice president of R&D in Nutrition and Health of the North American company ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Co).