Food safety
Food Safety
Food safety (/fuːd/ /ˈseɪfti/) refers to the practices and conditions that preserve the quality of food to prevent contamination and foodborne illnesses. The term is derived from the English words "food" (from Old English fōda) and "safety" (from Old French saufte).
Definition
Food safety encompasses actions aimed at ensuring that all food is as safe as possible. Food safety policies and actions need to cover the entire food chain, from production to consumption.
Importance
The importance of food safety lies in its role to prevent contamination of food, reducing the risk of foodborne diseases that can be serious or even fatal. It is a critical part of the World Health Organization's efforts to address food, health and agricultural issues.
Foodborne Illness
A foodborne illness is a disease transmitted to people by food. A foodborne illness outbreak can occur when two or more people get the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink.
Food Contamination
Food contamination refers to the presence of harmful chemicals and microorganisms in food, which can cause consumer illness. This article addresses the chemical and biological contamination of foods, as opposed to physical contamination of food.
Food Safety Standards
Food safety standards are set by various governmental and international bodies to define the set of criteria that food must meet to ensure that it is fit for consumption. These standards can be related to food production, packaging, distribution, marketing, and consumption.
Food Safety Management Systems
A Food safety management system (FSMS) is a network of interrelated elements that combine to ensure that food does not cause adverse human health effects. These elements include programs, plans, policies, procedures, practices, processes, goals, objectives, methods, controls, roles, responsibilities, relationships, documents, records, and resources.
Food Safety Regulations
Food safety regulations are laws and standards set by governments to protect consumers from health hazards in food. They cover a wide range of practices including food labeling, food hygiene, food additives, 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.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Food safety
- Wikipedia's article - Food safety
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