Toxic infant formula and deadly rockmelons are among the high-profile contamination threats sounding alarm bells for companies involved in the increasingly complex global food supply system.

Dangers can include accidental and malicious contamination, catastrophic weather events, supply chain disruption and brand and reputational damage.

“All of these are risks that are emerging and are more critical today for our food clients than ever before,” Aon Food System, Agribusiness and Beverage Group MD Rick Shanks told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“We spend our time helping our clients identify these risks, evaluate them and look at ways to develop solutions. Sometimes they are insurable and sometimes they are not.”

The stakes are rising due to several related global trends, according to Mr Shanks, who visited Australia this month from Aon’s Chicago office.

Consumers now have a heightened awareness of food safety, globalisation is adding to supply system complexity, regulation is growing more stringent and in most developed countries product recalls are increasing.

“Every country I am aware of in the developed world has either revamped its food safety laws or is in the process of revamping its food safety laws and making them much more strict,” Mr Shanks says.

When something goes wrong, social media makes brand protection more challenging. Any consumer backlash can spread rapidly and become difficult to counter.

Businesses involved in the food system must also meet demand in more sustainable ways, as growing populations put pressure on natural resources.

Devastating food poisoning cases in recent years have highlighted food safety issues.

In the US, listeria contamination linked to rockmelons caused 33 deaths and 147 cases of illness in 2011.

In China, six children died and many thousands became ill in 2008 after the toxic chemical melamine was added to infant formula to raise the apparent protein content.

Mr Shanks says profit-motivated tampering with products is an issue in China and a number of Third World countries.

“Some of the things people do to food products to make more money on them just baffles your mind,” he says. “They just do things to food that they just shouldn’t be doing.”

Such practices highlight the importance of buyers scrutinising systems or employing certification companies to ensure food meets their own standards.

Aon has also assessed risks from malicious contamination, which was considered an increased threat after the September 11 2001 attacks on the US.

The company worked with the US Department of Homeland Security and considered risks such as the deliberate introduction of foot and mouth disease to livestock.

Generally, though, risks can come from seemingly benign consumer trends and technological changes that intensify food safety scrutiny.

More meals are now eaten outside the home, there is a health interest in eating raw foods and technology advances mean problems can be detected easily and traced to the source.

Australia generally ranks highly for the quality and supply of its food.

An Oxfam study placed the nation equal eighth in terms of having a plentiful, nutritious, healthy and affordable diet.

The Netherlands topped the list, the US and Japan ranked equal 21st and China placed 57th with several other countries. Chad ranked last.

Here, products must meet Food Standards Australia New Zealand requirements.

Mr Shanks says Australia is one of the few countries where product recalls have not increased in the past 10-12 years.

The major risk here is probably accidental contaminations that can significantly damage a company’s reputation.

Risk exposure exists across the system, from primary producers to refiners, millers, manufacturers, importers, supermarkets and restaurants.

“What I worry about for our clients most is that they have a crisis management plan in place and are trained and ready to respond,” Mr Shanks says. “Hopefully you never have to use it.

“The people who can react the fastest when something does happen will have less damage to their sales and to their brand.”