Food safety

FDA lab tests seafood for microorganisms.

Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food is known as a food-borne disease outbreak.[1] This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potential health hazards. In this way, food safety often overlaps with food defense to prevent harm to consumers. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry-to-market practices, food safety[2] considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering market-to-consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer. Food safety, nutrition and food security are closely related. Unhealthy food creates a cycle of disease and malnutrition that affects infants and adults as well.[3]

Food can transmit pathogens, which can result in the illness or death of the person or other animals. The main types of pathogens are bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungus. The WHO Foodborne Disease Epidemiology Reference Group conducted the only study that solely and comprehensively focused on the global health burden of foodborne diseases. This study, which involved the work of over 60 experts for a decade, is the most comprehensive guide to the health burden of foodborne diseases. The first part of the study revealed that 31 foodborne hazards considered priority accounted for roughly 420,000 deaths in LMIC and posed a burden of about 33 million disability adjusted life years in 2010.[4] Food can also serve as a growth and reproductive medium for pathogens. In developed countries there are intricate standards for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries there are fewer standards and less enforcement of those standards. Even so, in the US, in 1999, 5,000 deaths per year were related to foodborne pathogens. [5] Another main issue is simply the availability of adequate safe water, which is usually a critical item in the spreading of diseases.[6] In theory, food poisoning[7] is 100% preventable. However this cannot be achieved due to the number of persons involved in the supply chain,[8] as well as the fact that pathogens can be introduced into foods no matter how many precautions are taken.[9] [contradictory]

  1. ^ Texas Food Establishment Rules. Texas DSHS website: Texas Department of State Health Services. 2015. p. 6.
  2. ^ "Food Safety Definition & Why is Food Safety Important". fooddocs.com. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Food safety". who.int. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  4. ^ Havelaar, Arie H.; Kirk, Martyn D.; Torgerson, Paul R.; Gibb, Herman J.; Hald, Tine; Lake, Robin J.; Praet, Nicolas; Bellinger, David C.; de Silva, Nilanthi R.; Gargouri, Neyla; Speybroeck, Niko; Cawthorne, Amy; Mathers, Colin; Stein, Claudia; Angulo, Frederick J.; Devleesschauwer, Brecht (2015). "World Health Organization Global Estimates and Regional Comparisons of the Burden of Foodborne Disease in 2010". PLOS Med. 12 (12): e1001923. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001923. PMC 4668832. PMID 26633896.
  5. ^ Morris, Glenn (2011). "How Safe Is Our Food?". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 17 (1). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 126–128. doi:10.3201/eid1701.101821. PMC 3375763. PMID 21192873. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  6. ^ Shiklomanov, I. A. (2000). "Appraisal and Assessment of World Water Resources" (PDF). Water International. International Water Resources Association. pp. 11–32.
  7. ^ "Food poisoning – Symptoms and causes". Mayo Clinic. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Supply Chain". Corporate Finance Institute. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Bacterial Pathogens, Viruses, and Foodborne Illness". National Agricultural Library. USDA. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023.