How climate change could impact food safety

Climate change isn’t just fueling stronger storms and longer droughts — it’s also making the food on your plate riskier, as Popular Mechanics’ Darren Orf reports. A new review from researchers at Ethiopia’s Public Health Institute and Dambi Dollo University, published in the study in One Health Outlook, found that rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and extreme weather are accelerating the spread of foodborne pathogens worldwide.

Warmer conditions favor bacteria like Salmonella and Campylobacter, while added humidity fuels mold growth that produces toxic mycotoxins in grains and nuts. Flooding washes pesticide and chemical runoff into food and water supplies, and drought elsewhere shrinks crop yields.

A widening public health burden

“Foodborne illness causes an estimated 600 million cases of illness and 420,000 deaths annually,” the study authors wrote, noting children under five bear a disproportionate share.

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The researchers say food safety surveillance needs to catch up — folding climate data into disease-tracking systems and building climate-resilient food safety strategies. With the FDA already stretched thin, they argue, closing that gap will take sustained global cooperation.

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