Between Adaptation and Necessity: Stored Product Protection for Food Safety in the Context of Climate Change

Climate change poses a massive threat to the entire food chain. This publication examines the extent to which climate change influences the protection of stored products against insects that are harmful to stored products and the implications of these influences for food safety. Two aspects of climate change are investigated in detail. At first, indirect effects on harvests and storage conditions are considered. This is followed by a treatise on the direct effects on the development and behaviour of storage pests, as well as on control methods. The analysis is based on a comprehensive literature review that includes current scientific studies, reports and relevant German-language hand-and textbooks. The analysis has shown that the rise in temperature and the increase in extreme weather events lead to changes in harvest and drying conditions, which also influence the subsequent storage and quality of the harvested produce. The rise in temperature also affects the geographical distribution and developmental cycles of storage pests, causing an increased incidence of pests in parts of the world. This as well as climatic changes have an impact on the effectiveness of traditional pest control methods in stored product protection.