Climate solutions designed to cut emissions from farming must pass rigorous food safety checks as their use expands, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has warned.
In new guidance published this week, FAO said chemical tools aimed at reducing methane from livestock and nitrogen losses from soils cannot be widely adopted without clear evidence that residues will not enter the food chain.
The report [PDF] and accompanying technical brief are aimed at policymakers, regulators and supply chain decision-makers, as governments and industry look for ways to boost food production while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental inhibitors are substances intended to reduce methane emissions from cows and other livestock, or to improve nitrogen efficiency when fertilisers are applied to land. Their use is growing as part of climate mitigation strategies.
This includes methane-reducing feed additives such as Bovaer, which is based on the active ingredient 3-nitrooxypropanol. In the UK and Europe, Arla has been running on-farm trials of Bovaer as it explores ways to lower the carbon footprint of milk production.
In its publication, Environmental Inhibitors in Agrifood Systems – Considerations for Food Safety Risk Assessment, FAO said the potential transfer of residues into food requires careful evaluation to avoid risks to human health and possible disruption to trade.
The guidance focuses on two main groups of inhibitors. One involves methanogenesis inhibitors given to ruminant animals to reduce methane produced during digestion.
The second includes nitrogen inhibitors applied to soils to improve fertiliser efficiency and reduce nitrogen losses and nitrous oxide emissions from crop production.
FAO said regulatory oversight of these substances is currently fragmented, with different regions applying different data requirements depending on whether products are classed as veterinary medicines, feed additives or soil treatments.
Corinna Hawkes, director of the FAO’s Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division, said climate solutions must be introduced with care.
“Applying a food safety lens is essential when introducing new practices and technologies in agrifood systems,” she said.
“By considering food safety at the outset, we can ensure that efforts to reduce environmental impacts are effective, trusted, and well understood.”
The organisation said a more harmonised global approach is needed, supported by scientific advice from international expert committees that underpin food safety standards set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
FAO said future approval and wider use of environmental inhibitors will depend on robust evidence showing how these substances behave in animals, soils and crops, and whether residues can be safely excluded from food.
