Food and Food Safety

Man has always lost and continues to lose punitive quantities of food due to microbial activity. And, ironically, it is in the sector of foods and beverages that the microbes were first gainfully employed to produce unique and more useful products, e.g., bread, cheese, butter, curd , wines, etc., even before the existence of microbes became known. Later, pure cultures of microbes were isolated and improved for specific applications in processing of food and beverages. Still later, purified enzymes and immobilized cells began to be used. More recently, microbial biomass production has been developed into an industrial activity to obtain protein-rich food/feed supplements. People have access to enough food to lead healthy and productive lives; food safety is gaining prominence as a global issue. This prominence is particularly evident in the international trade arena and is spilling over into the domestic agricultural and health arenas. Unsafe food contains hazardous agents, or contaminants, that can make people sick—either immediately or by increasing their risk to chronic diseases. Such contaminants can enter food at many different points in the food production process, and can occur naturally or as the result of poor or inadequate production practices. Hazardous agents that are receiving attention from policymakers include microbial pathogens, zoonotic diseases, parasites, mycotoxins, antibiotic drug residues, and pesticide residues.

Genetically modified foods and their potential to contain allergens or toxins not found in conventional foods have begun to receive attention as well. Unsafe food causes many acute and life-long diseases, ranging from diarrhoeal diseases to various forms of cancer. WHO estimates that foodborne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases taken together kill about 2.2 million people annually, 1.9 million of them children. Foodborne illness often shows up as flu-like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or fever. Each organism may cause different symptoms. Age and physical condition place some persons at higher risk than others for any type of bacteria. Very young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems (such as people undergoing cancer treatments, or that have kidney disease, AIDS, diabetes, etc.) are at greatest risk from any harmful bacteria. Some persons may become ill after consuming only a few bacteria; others may remain symptom-free after consuming thousands. Symptoms usually occur between 1 hour and up to 3 weeks after eating contaminated food. Safe food is paramount for the protection of human health and for enhancement of the quality of life. Safe food plays an important role, whether domestically produced and consumed, imported or exported. In addition, the production of safe food represents an opportunity for income generation and market access. Over the last decades, the food chain approach has been recognized as an important step forward to ensure food safety from production up to consumption. This approach requires the commitment of all players in the food chain, involving producers, traders, processors, distributors, competent authorities as well as consumers. Food should be considered not only an agricultural and/or trade commodity, but also a public health issue. Therefore, food safety has to be seen by the public health community as an essential public health function. Food safety must be integrated along the entire food chain, from farm to table, with the three sectors— government, industry and consumers—sharing responsibility. It is necessary that food safety forms an essential component of health-based nutrition policies and nutrition education. Food safety is receiving heightened attention worldwide as the important links between food and health are increasingly recognized. Improving food safety is an essential element of improving food security, which exists when populations have access to sufficient and healthy food. Food safety is key to improvements in health and nutrition, which, after all, is the ultimate goal of enhanced food security. Improvements in food availability will not benefit many of those at nutritional risk without corresponding improvements in the nutritional quality and safety of food as well as a reduction in food- and water-borne illness. But in order to address food safety in this context, developing countries must evaluate such investments within the overall scope of public health, nutrition, and food system policies. The growing movement of people, live animals, and food products across borders; rapid urbanization in developing countries; increasing numbers of immune-compromised people; changes in food handling and consumption; and the emergence of new or antibiotic-resistant pathogens all contribute to increasing food safety risks. Global attention to the issue emanates from the concerns of high-income consumers and producers in the developed world, and does not truly reflect the most compelling food safety issues in developing countries. Food security still depends on increased food access and, from that perspective, one can argue that investments in food safety divert resources from rural development and agricultural production.

Developed countries have been building food safety regulatory systems that are increasingly comprehensive (covering more safety attributes) and more stringent (establishing stricter standards for those attributes).They are adopting a mix of regulatory approaches depending on the problem addressed, including process standards such as HACCP, performance standards for testing final products, and even increased labeling to communicate about food safety to consumers. These trends will continue unabated in the future, with the result that over time food safety standards will become increasingly demanding. Food safety regulations and standards are increasingly influencing the ability of developing countries to access markets for agricultural and food products, particularly in industrialized countries. The rudimentary and outdated food safety controls of many developing countries may provide adequate protection to the domestic population, but they are ill-equipped to meet export market requirements. Further, developing nations are unable to participate effectively in the international institutions that have evolved to establish global food standards and provide rules for the implementation of national measures. However, countries or private suppliers that invest in the required capacity to meet changing food safety standards may enjoy a strategic advantage.