Researcher: Plant-based food not safer than animal-based

In the debate on the so-called green transition, it is often claimed that plant-based foods would also be safer. However, Swedish researchers assert that this is not the case at all.

Established knowledge about food safety is based on traditional foods containing animal products, and equivalent knowledge about plant-based foods lags behind.

“There is a naive belief that plant-based food is safer than animal food. Unfortunately, that is not the case,” says Jenny Schelin, a researcher in food safety at Lund University.

According to Schelin, plant-based food is just as vulnerable to the same pathogens found in meat, fish, milk, and eggs. The lack of knowledge about plant-based food has also led to an underestimation of the risks and people becoming seriously ill.

In recent years, several cases of :censored:6:cdd6bbaa89: food poisoning have occurred where even plant-based foods have been contaminated with classic foodborne pathogens such as listeria, salmonella, and Clostridium botulinum.

“We must learn to prepare these new ingredients to avoid food poisoning from lectins in beans that are not properly cooked, for example,” says Schelin.

More risks

Research and development are ongoing to find more new raw materials and to develop new plant-based foods, either as ingredients or finished products. According to Schelin, plant-based semi-finished products often require more manufacturing steps – more moments when something can go wrong and a risk can arise.

Residues from plant-based foods can also be more difficult to wash away after production is completed and can cause microbiological problems if the residues from the previous production batch contain bacterial spores that can end up in the product manufactured in the next production batch.

At the same time, Jenny Schelin argues that experts agree that sooner or later, we will need to eat fewer animal products in general – partly to reduce the alleged climate impact, partly to consume more vegetables, but also because locally grown crops and vegetables make us less vulnerable in times of crises and wars.