Turning Research into Innovation: A Systems Approach to Innovation in Food Safety

Consumers expect food to be safe, and whether this expectation is fulfilled influences the success of a business and/or industry sector. However, economic and social factors do not support willingness to adopt food safety practices. Therefore, even though food safety management needs to be improved and research is funded, research alone is insufficient to ensure change in food safety activities (innovation). Innovation is a complex process, and reasons in addition to economics may prevent innovation from occurring. The concept of innovation systems can be used to analyze innovation processes and identify the elements that need to be managed. A number of factors, other than the quality of the research, have been shown to be essential to ensuring that research projects lead to innovation and improved food safety results. Furthermore, an innovation system intermediary is required to ensure that the innovation system is operating effectively and that research outputs are implemented so as to improve food safety.