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T-1954

STPBT-TI - The Great Silk Road – as a Target for Biological Threats of the Global Food Supply Chain

Project Status: 8 Project completed
Commencement Date: 01.05.2012
Duration in months: 12 months

Objective

The Great Silk Road – is the system of caravan tracks which have been linked the countries in Eurasia from West Europe to China starting from the II century B.C. till XI century. It plays the crucial role in interlinking of the countries with different civilizations and socio-economic systems. Despite of the taken protective measures of the negotiates life and their properties, the caravan trade of the Silk Road route concerned with high risk. Majority people have been dying because of illnesses, unusual climate conditions, and attack of the robbers or sovereign’s tyranny. The caravans lay through the desert, oriented on the skeleton of the humans and camels along the Silk Road track.

The history of the Great Silk Road is under considering as current experience of the mutually-beneficial trade and peaceful cultural communications between different countries and nations. In 1987-1997 the UNESCO program “The Silk Road – the Pathway for Conversation” have been in operation, and become the element of the preparation of the Silk Road reappearance plan. And creation of the modern Trans Eurasia transport system often called as the new Silk Road construction.

Currently the food safety condition in Central Asian and Caucasia countries around the Great Silk Road takes serious concerns. The high import dependence of these countries is still continuing regarding the some agricultural, fish, and foods production items. The import growth on agricultural, fish production, row materials and foods according the rates is essentially outrun of the local gross production. For this huge territorial region, the physical and economical food accessibility to the different social groups is unequal. The high differentiation on the income level has been still existed, and the feedback of which are of significances in food quality and quantity differences regarding the population food commodity and nutrition. An international impact on food supply safety and security is increasing as the significant factor of the consumer demands in developing counties, intensive bioenergy development in more developed countries, decreasing of the world food stock, world financial and funds crises, etc. The food supply becomes more the main political and economical lever of pressure in international relations.

In the area of food supply safety the adequacy measures should be taken according the technical requirements of agricultural, fish, raw materials and food production regulations, and imported production as well as along all food supply chain stages – production, storage, transportation, processing, and disposal of commodities. It should to continue the harmonization process with international requirements on the food safety indexes based on fundamental research in the area of food nutrition. It should to enhance the food safety and quality control system including the establishing of the modern technical and methodological basis in Central Asia and Caucasus region.

The food contamination takes huge social and economical freight for community and for public health system as well. For example, the USA expenses leaded by the main pathogens are evaluated annually as 35 billion US dollars (1997) for the medical expenses and productivity loses. Cholera incidents in Peru (1991) leaded to the harm in export of the fish production and composed as 500 million US dollars. The lack of proper monitoring and assessment, changes in the practical guidelines in animal husbandry, including feeding, can lead to the serious impacts to the food safety in the world, at whole. For example, the wide using of the bovine bones and meat as feed additives to the cattle likely plays role in the cases of "mad cow" disease appearance. Low antibiotic dose additives to the animal feeds for growth acceleration purposes cause concern about antibiotic resistance of the pathogen agents.

Therefore, taken into account that Great Silk Road can be considering as the part of the global food supply chain the project proposal’s aim is: to prepare the platform for developing of the prediction system for biological threats for food supply chain in Central Asia and Caucuses. The project feedback will enhance the sustainability of the biological threats activity and international security.

Participating Institutions

PARTICIPATING

Kyrgyz-Turkish University "Manas"

COLLABORATOR

Food Research Institute (VUP)