Ensuring Safe Food: From Production to Consumption

How safe is our food supply? Each year one in every ten Americans has an illness caused by the food they consume. These food-borne illnesses are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, food additives, and toxic chemicals naturally present in food and in the environment. Recent actions taken at the federal, state, and local levels in response to the increase in reported incidences of food-borne illnesses point to the need to evaluate the food safety system in the United States. This book assesses the effectiveness of the current food safety system and provides recommendations on changes needed to ensure an effective science-based food safety system. Food Safety discusses such important issues as: What are the primary hazards associated with the food supply? What gaps exist in the current system for ensuring a safe food supply? What effects do trends in food consumption have on food safety? What is the impact of food preparation and handling practices in the home, in food services, or in production operations on the risk of food-borne illnesses? What organizational changes in responsibility or oversight could be made to increase the effectiveness of the food safety system? The committee discusses the current trends in risks associated with microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards. The book also considers how changes in technology and food processing might introduce new risks. It is vitally important to determine the most effective structure of responsibility to ensure consumer safety. To that end, the committee makes recommendations on steps for developing a coordinated, unified system for food safety as well as recommendations on the additional research needed.Food Safety will be important for policy-makers, food trade professionals, food producers, food processors, food researchers, public health professionals, and consumers.