Building a resilient and trustworthy food system, from farm to fork
Ensuring that everyone in our world has access to safe, nutritious food, while preserving the global food systems that produce it, is a job that's never finished. World Food Day 2026, marked on October 16 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), puts a spotlight on this challenge.
This year’s theme, ‘Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow’, asks how innovation can help build a more resilient food system for the future. We spoke to Susan Mallin, Food Schemes Manager at Kiwa, about what this future may look like and why trust is more important than ever.
Why does World Food Day matter?
The food industry exists to keep people all over the world fed. Beyond just getting the food on our plates, agrifood systems comprise a diverse range of activities: from growing and shipping to sourcing and packaging. Almost 1.4 billion people work across agrifood systems worldwide (FAO statistics). Ensuring access to safe, nutritious food for everyone, delivered through safe, ethical, and sustainable supply chains, is crucial.
"Ending hunger is within reach," according to the FAO. But the work isn't done yet. For Susan, who has spent 37 years in the food industry, World Food Day comes down to awareness. "It's about raising awareness around the importance of food and food production," says Susan, "and really focusing on making sure we're fit for the future. There are still pockets of poverty around the world that, as one united planet, we shouldn't be allowing to happen. Everybody plays a part in this challenge."
A robust food system
Despite its importance, the food industry is never secure. "Just open a newspaper, and you'll see," says Susan. "Global conflicts and geopolitical tensions can lead to food scarcity and supply chain issues. At the same time, we are becoming more aware of the impact of climate change on so many food-related topics, from crop growth to food availability. We need to keep evolving to nurture a resilient global food system." In other words, innovating today to nourish tomorrow.
What does a robust food system look like? For Susan, it starts from the ground up. "It's looking at every single aspect, from the seed, how things are grown, how an animal is treated, where the water comes from, right through to manufacturing or processing, transportation, delivery and how that product is sold," she explains.
At every step from farm to fork, putting the right governance and structures in place can ensure quality and safety.
Innovating today…
Innovations in food aren’t just about big, futuristic ideas. "It's not primarily about developing a genetically modified piece of wheat that can withstand hurricanes and still be edible," Susan says. “It’s about using what we’ve got around us, doing everything we can with the best of our ability. You can always ask yourself: ‘Is there a better way of doing this?’ We can’t stand still. Keeping that top of mind is as important as blue sky thinking.”
That said, game-changing technologies, like Artificial Intelligence, are having an impact. At Kiwa, a team in Sweden has built an AI tool to support audit report writing. The tool helps human auditors make sure nothing is missed and that every element of a standard is properly checked. "It's working well," Susan says. "It's helping us identify issues and making us more efficient." In an industry where audits require significant time and expertise, improving efficiency can help auditors focus more of their time on identifying and addressing issues.
Building food systems based on trust
Trust has always been central to the food industry. But the rules of the game have changed. “One of the biggest changes over my career has been the rise of social media”, says Susan. "Early on in my career, a major food scare would be broadcast on the six o'clock news or in the daily paper. Now, it's instant information every second of every day, from anywhere. Someone could share a video of a piece of fruit gone off early, and millions may have seen it within a day. The truth can be distorted or skewed. Trust can be broken in seconds."
Rebuilding and maintaining that trust is central to Kiwa's work. Auditing against a retailer's standards, and flagging where a manufacturer has work to do, is how that trust gets tested and protected in practice. "We go out and audit against a retailer's requirements," Susan explains. "If a manufacturer doesn't meet those, we raise what's called a non-conformance. It can be a big one, reflecting major issues, or it can be small, something that just needs fixing. We're the eyes and ears of that retailer."
Keeping it simple, keeping it honest
An event like World Food Day reminds us of both the importance and the instability of global food systems. “Reliable, affordable and nutritious food for people everywhere: that's what we're all in it for, and it doesn't need to be more complicated than that," says Susan. "Achieving that is about embracing the strapline: innovate today, nourish tomorrow. Basic things tend to work. Keep it focused, keep it simple, and keep it honest."
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