food safety essay conclusion

Ensuring Safe Food: From Production to Consumption (1998)

Chapter: 6. conclusions and recommendations, 6 conclusions and recommendations.

Congress commissioned the National Academy of Sciences, through the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, to undertake the study that resulted in this report. The charge to the committee was to perform two main tasks: assess the current US food safety system and its effectiveness in addressing the continually changing concerns about food safety; and provide recommendations on scientific and organizational changes needed to ensure an effective food safety system for the present and future generations.

The effectiveness of efforts to ensure the safety of food for US consumers is not solely, perhaps not even primarily, the responsibility of the federal government. An effective food safety system depends on the collective efforts of food producers, processors, transporters, suppliers, preparers, retailers, and handlers; of officials at the local, state, and federal levels; and of consumers who select and prepare food. There are three overriding conclusions that the committee came to as a result of its deliberations:

The committee's recommendations focus on two main areas. The first addresses the scientific basis of prudent, cost-effective food safety regulation. The second addresses the legal framework and management structure within which the scientific basis should be developed and deployed. The committee presents these recommendations as an integrated, mutually reinforcing package. Specifically, the committee believes that the development and, critically, the use of a scientifically supportable foundation for regulation is not likely to be achieved within the current scattered organization of federal food safety programs, where responsibility is dispersed, budgets are separate, a unified mission is lacking, and no single official has formal or public overall responsibility and authority for performance.

More study is needed to determine the best organizational plan for a centrally unified framework for managing the federal system. The committee's recommendations do not assume that the only way to improve food safety is to create a single responsible agency. The committee also recognizes that designing the details of a centrally managed federal system will generate controversy and will in any case take time. Moreover, it should be emphasized that many of the specific elements of its recommendations can and should be implemented without waiting for the creation of a centrally managed federal system.

The committee emphasizes the urgency of reform, 1 both scientific and organizational. Threats to the safety of food consumed by Americans are ubiquitous and, whether or not the threats are growing, they are certainly changing. Diverse observers of the food safety system, including entities attached to both Congress and the White House, have been calling attention to specific gaps and deficiencies for more than a decade (see Appendix B for a description of previous proposals related to changes in organizational structure). Responsive legislative and administrative actions along the lines of those recommended are long overdue.

Scientific Recommendations

Recommendation i:.

Base the food safety system on science.

The United States has enjoyed notable successes in improving food safety. An example of these is the joint government-industry development of low-acid

canned food regulations, based on contingency microbiology and food engineering principles, that has almost eliminated botulism resulting from improperly processed commercial food. Similarly, the passage of the 1958 Food Additives Amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act of 1938 was a "technology forcing" event that improved the evaluation of the safety of added and natural substances and reduced the risks associated with the use of food additives. With increasing knowledge, many rational, science-based regulatory philosophies have been adopted, some of which rely on quantitative risk assessment. Adoption of this regulatory philosophy has been uneven and difficult to ensure given the fragmentation of food safety activities, and the differing missions of the various agencies responsible for specific components of food safety. This philosophy must be integrated into all aspects of the food safety system, from federal to state and local.

The greatest strides in ensuring food safety from production to consumption can be made through a scientific risk-based system that ensures that surveillance, regulatory, and research resources are allocated to maximize effectiveness. This will require identification of the greatest public health needs through surveillance and risk analysis. The state of knowledge and technology defines what is achievable through the application of current science. Public resources can have the greatest favorable effect on public health if they are allocated in accordance with the combined analysis of risk assessment and technical feasibility. It is important to recognize that limiting allocation of resources to only those areas where high priority hazards exist can create another problem: other hazards with somewhat lower priority but with a much greater probability of reduction or elimination will not be addressed due to limited resources. Thus, both the relative risks and benefits must be considered in allocating resources.

Recommendation IIa:

Congress should change federal statutes so that inspection, enforcement, and research efforts can be based on scientifically supportable assessments of risks to public health.

At a minimum, Congress should legislatively modify the provisions of the Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act that are now understood to require physical inspection of each animal carcass and thereby force resources to be allocated in a fashion that is not calibrated to risk. Adequate resources should be made available for the implementation of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system by the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration.

Resource allocations should be subject to revision and adjustment as assessments of risk change. Implementing a food safety system based on risk assessment will require a new level of flexibility in statutory directives to permit

responsiveness to advances in science and technology that underlie the food system and food safety efforts.

Recommendation IIb:

Congress and the administration should require development of a comprehensive national food safety plan. Funds appropriated for food safety programs (including research and education programs) should be allocated in accordance with science-based assessments of risk and potential benefit.

The National Food Safety Plan should:

increase monitoring and surveillance efforts to improve knowledge of the incidence, seriousness, and cause-effect relationships of foodborne disease and related hazards;
address the additional and distinctive efforts required to ensure the safety of imported foods;
recognize and provide support for the burdens imposed on state and local authorities that have primary front-line responsibility for the regulation of food service establishments; and
address consumers' behaviors related to safe food-handling practices.

Rationale for Recommendations Related to a Science-Based System

Both risks and scientific understanding of risks change, so federal efforts must be carried out within a flexible framework. US regulatory agencies are moving toward science-based HACCP programs. The committee found evidence that current resources might be inadequate both to continue traditional inspection and to implement HACCP systems fully. A glaring defect in the present system is that substantial resources are directed to problems that do not have the greatest human health impact (for example, carcass-by-carcass organoleptic [primarily visual and odor detection] inspection of meat and poultry).

The elimination of continuous inspection for meat and poultry would not necessarily end all ante- or postmortem inspections of carcasses, if HACCP programs were appropriately developed and implemented. Such programs would have to include appropriate methods to identify diseased animals, which might require some level of carcass inspection as identified by hazard analysis.

Current understanding of the magnitude of the problem of foodborne disease and the importance of the relevant hazards is incomplete and in many cases inaccurate. Furthermore, there is a lack of scientific resources and structure to address the gaps and inaccuracies. Effective and adequate monitoring, surveillance, and research to characterize risk are required to improve the allocation of resources and to develop the knowledge and technology needed to manage hazards that pose the greatest risk.

The committee found many instances in which the resource base for research and surveillance was not adequate to achieve the critical goals discussed. There is not an adequately coordinated effort on the scale required to analyze the risks and respond to the challenges presented by the changing nature of American food hazards related to increases in consumption of imported foods and in meals eaten away from home.

It is also important that any national plan directly address the safety of imported food. Not all agencies responsible for monitoring the safety of imported food are authorized to enter into agreements with the governments of exporting countries in order to reciprocally recognize food safety standards or inspection results. Uniform or harmonized food safety standards or practices should be encouraged, and officials allowed to undertake research, monitoring,

surveillance, or inspection activities within other countries. This should permit inspection and monitoring efforts to be allocated in accordance with science based analyses of risk and benefit.

The committee found two major problems with respect to consumer education: in some instances, consumer knowledge is inadequate or erroneous; and even where knowledge is adequate, it often fails to influence behavior. A task force to examine approaches to and resources for consumer education is required.

Role of Risk Analysis

The cornerstone of a science-based system of food safety is the incorporation of the results of risk analysis into all decisions regarding resource allocation, programmatic priorities, and public education activities. Risk assessment integrates data on exposure to harmful agents and dose-response relationships to estimate the risk of developing illness from eating specific foods. The growing acceptance of the principles of risk assessment has also led to its use beyond regulatory standard-setting. It is now possible to use comparisons of risk to inform and set priorities for risk management. Risk-based priorities enable resources to be so allocated as to protect public health and to attack the worst problems and/or those most amenable to change first.

Resources Required for Research

To move from a reactive mode of research based on responses to food safety crises to a preventive mode in which newly emerging hazards are identified, or, if possible, prevented, and potential methods for containment evaluated, the federal agency(ies) responsible for food safety regulation will need authority to direct the allocation of funds for food safety research. Intramural and extramural research priorities should be focused on both short and long-term hazard prevention and on advancing understanding of foodborne pathogens and other food-related hazards; research results should then be integrated into the standard-setting and regulatory program. Selection of research priorities should be based on identification of the greatest potential areas for foodborne risks and assessment of the likely contributions of research findings to the prevention of illness and the improvement of regulatory performance.

In addition to research targeted at immediate regulatory needs, there should continue to be a federally supported, long-term, strategic research program. It should have both applied and basic components and be targeted at the needs of producers, processors, consumers, and nonregulatory and regulatory scientists.

Recommendations to Implement a Science-Based System Through Organizational Changes

Recommendation iiia:.

To implement a science-based system, Congress should establish, by statute, a unified and central framework for managing federal food safety programs, one that is headed by a single official and which has the responsibility and control of resources for all federal food safety activities, including outbreak management, standard-setting, inspection, monitoring, surveillance, risk assessment, enforcement, research, and education.

The committee was asked to look at organizational changes that would improve the safety of food in the United States. In the time available for information gathering and deliberation, the committee identified characteristics needed in an organizational structure that would improve food safety in the United States. The committee found that the current fragmented regulatory structure is not well-equipped to meet the current challenges. The committee's key recommendation is that to achieve a structure that can implement a science based system, one official should be responsible for federal efforts in food safety and have control of the resources allocated to food safety.

This recommendation contemplates a structure that would have an identifiable, high-ranking, presidentially appointed head, who would direct and coordinate federal activities and speak to the nation, giving federal food safety efforts a single voice. The structure created, and the person heading it, should have control over the resources Congress allocates to the food safety effort; the structure should also have a firm foundation in statute and thus not be easily subject to changes in political agendas. It is also important that the person heading the structure should be accountable to an official no lower than a cabinet-level secretary, and ultimately, to the President.

Whether or not a single agency emerges, the ultimate structure must provide for not just delegated responsibility, but also for control of resources and authority over food safety activities in the federal government

Recommendation IIIb:

Congress should provide the agency responsible for food safety at the federal level with the tools necessary to integrate and unify the efforts of authorities at the state and local levels to enhance food safety.

must work together in support of common goals of a science-based system. The federal government must be able to ensure nationwide adherence to minimal standards when it is deemed appropriate. The work of the states and localities in support of the federal mission deserves improved formal recognition and appropriate financial support.

Rationale for Organizational Recommendations

Centralized and unified federal framework.

The committee believes that the creation of a centralized and unified federal framework is critical to improve the food safety system. Many members of the committee are of the view that the most viable means of achieving the goal would be a single, unified agency headed by a single administrator—an agency that would incorporate the several relevant functions now dispersed, and in many instances separately organized, among three departments and a department-level agency. However, in the time frame given the committee, it was not possible to determine whether this is the only sound approach or whether the costs of achieving it would be too high. Nor was it the committee's charge to resolve these issues.

The committee did discuss some possible structures; while it ruled out some, it certainly did not examine all possible configurations and thus the examples provided below are only illustrative of possible overall structures that could be considered. The committee does not believe that the type of centralized

focus envisioned can be achieved through the appointment of an individual with formal coordinating responsibility but without legal authority or budgetary control for food safety, a model similar to a White House-based ''czar". Nor, in the committee's view, can this goal be achieved through a coordinating committee similar to that currently provided via the National Food Safety Initiative. Experience indicates that any ad hoc administrative adjustments and commitments to coordinate will not suffice to bring about the cultural changes and collaborative efforts needed to create an integrated system.

In evaluating possible structures, the committee realized that past experience with other structures or reorganizations, including the creation of new agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, should inform any final judgment. Further, it is quite possible that other models may now exist in government that can serve as templates for an improved structure. It thus proposes that a sequential, detailed examination of specific organizational changes be a major component of future study, in keeping with the Congressional appropriations language.

NOTE: These examples are provided for illustrative purposes and many other configurations are possible. It is strongly recommended that future activities be directed toward identifying a feasible structure that meets the criteria outlined.

Integration of Food Safety Efforts

This report specifically addresses the federal role in the food safety system, but the roles of state and local government entities are equally critical. For integrated operation of the food safety system, officials at all levels of government must work together in support of common goals. The federal government must be able to ensure nationwide adherence to minimal standards. The work of the states and localities in support of the federal mission deserves better formal recognition and appropriate financial support.

Similarly, the increased demand of US consumers for year-round availability of fruits and vegetables and the internationalization of the food supply generally have created an increased need for regulatory inspection and control of imported foods. Rationalization of an expanded system of import controls should be based on risk analysis and rely on greatly increased cooperation with US trading partners.

The food industry, from production to delivery, must be included in the planning and implementation of comprehensive food safety efforts. Consumers also have the crucial responsibility of knowing and practicing safe food-handling procedures to protect themselves and their families. Government officials should develop and support partnerships and joint activities with the food industry and with consumers in pursuit of the goal of combating foodborne illness and related hazards.

How safe is our food supply? Each year the media report what appears to be growing concern related to illness caused by the food consumed by Americans. These food borne illnesses are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, and food additives. 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. Ensuring Safe Food 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 in the United States?

Current concerns associated with microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards in the food supply are discussed. The book also considers how changes in technology and food processing might introduce new risks. Recommendations are made on steps for developing a coordinated, unified system for food safety. The book also highlights areas that need additional study. Ensuring Safe Food will be important for policymakers, food trade professionals, food producers, food processors, food researchers, public health professionals, and consumers.

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Essay on Health

Example Of Food Safety Essay

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Health , Medicine , Security , Human , Study , Genetics , Food , Safety

Words: 2500

Published: 03/20/2020

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Food is a necessity because it is essential to human beings’ survival. For this reason, food production is a crucial function in modern life because processes and initiatives determine the quantity and quality of food produced and distributed to consumers. Food production, however, is not an easy process. In some cases, food consumed by people not only cause illnesses or various diseases but also lead to death. As a result, producers around the world adopted various measures to ascertain the quality of food and the health and safety of consumers. Solving food safety is a variable process primarily because issues that threaten this are diverse. The research focuses on identifying current and relevant issues that threaten food safety particularly improper food handling, preparation, and storage practices, and the strategies and practices that organizations employ in order to address food security that affect the health and wellbeing of people. The discussion focuses on the problems in food safety and their implications on human life. After presenting issues concerning food safety, the discussion also includes recommendations on how people would be able to address the foregoing problems to ensure that they consume high quality food. Solutions to food safety problems include increased awareness about food handling and storage, as well as increased reliance on organic food. Science could also contribute to the foregoing problems by introducing non-harmful ways to produce plant and animal food sources and offset the outcomes of climate change on agriculture and food production.

Consumption and Food Safety

One of the most important issues when it comes to food and consumption is safety. Food is a basic necessity because it perpetuates the survival of human beings. Nonetheless, food could place people’s lives at risk. People die after consumption if food contains deadly organisms such as bacteria or virus, poison, and other harmful substances. Some sources of food in nature are also prohibited for consumption because they are harmful to people’s health. For the foregoing reasons, food safety is important when it comes to curbing incidences of death and illness due to food. Aside from the presence of deadly organisms on food, other reasons or factors that contribute to food safety issues include improper handling and storage of food. Food items formulate bacteria, for instance, when they are kept under conditions that do not favor the preservation of the food’s quality. Some food items must be frozen, while others must be heated or cooled. Food must also be stored properly to prevent bacteria from formulating on the surface of the food. The foregoing problems have plagued the food production industry for many years. Proposed solutions include the inclusion of ingredients in food to improve its quality and prevent it from decomposition or contamination. Other solutions include standards or guidelines and their implementation in food preparation particularly in restaurants and other food establishments. In recent years, however, one of the primary social issues related to food safety include the quality of food. Various health institutions raised this issue because of the increasing number of illnesses caused by low food quality. Some of these illnesses are also serious and the leading causes of death around the world. Illnesses such as cancer, heart diseases, and diabetes, for instance, are outcomes of poor food quality. Proof to the alarming rate of unfortunate circumstances linked to food safety is the growing number of cases involving food poisoning or the onset of diseases due to consumption of unsafe food. The number of articles about food safety published over the years (See Figure 1) have significantly increased over time, thus, signaling the growing number of issues related to safety and intensifying the need to immediately address the problem.

Cultural and Sociological Relevance of Food Safety

Since the objective of the research is to view a specific issue from the cultural and sociological perspective, we are going to explore some of the issues linked to food quality. Aside from the content of food, this issue is also cultural in nature because it is tied to the food consumption practices in other countries. In a discussion about food quality, Kent (2012) pointed out that food choices often affect our health. Hence, in countries where people’s choices are scarce or are limited to specific types of food following cultural practices such as religious traditions, the quality of their food and consumption differs from that of others. Aside from religion and culture, lifestyle and beliefs as well as personal preferences as influenced by news and science are also some of the factors that affect people’s choices when it comes to food consumption. Kent mentioned Jews and Muslims as examples. Due to their religion, Jews and Muslims follow restrictions when it comes to food consumption. Both groups are averse to the consumption of pork, which may be an outcome of their religion rather than health concerns. Nonetheless, because of Jews and Muslims’ aversion to pork, they consume better food choices because pork is excluded from their diet. Due to safety issues concerning pork, such as contaminations with various bacteria (Bottemiller, 2012) as well as drugs and other substances that may harm human beings upon consumption (Consumer Reports, 2013), Jews and Muslims are saved from various hazards that may arise if they consumed pork (Kliebenstein, n..d). Aside from Jews and Muslims or other groups that set restrictions about their diet, other people that choose to live a healthy lifestyle are those that are also at lesser risk of being affected by food safety issues. Often, these people learn about food production so they would be aware about the origin, production, and handling of their food. People living a healthy lifestyle prefer less processed organic food handled delicately to preserve the freshness and the nutritional content of these food items. Furthermore, they learn how to prepare food so they would obtain nutritional benefits of organic food. Overall, people that follow rigid cultural or lifestyle practices when it comes to food consumption consume healthier and therefore, safer food products.

Food Security and Food Safety

Kent (2012) also raised another issue concerning food safety and quality. One of the main problems regarding food is security. Various factors threaten food security especially during the next decades. The increasing population threatens food supply since it would be inadequate in meeting the needs of billions of people around the world. Another factor affecting food security is climate change. Global warming, the continued warming of the earth, contributes to climate change. Climate change consequently affects agriculture. Unpredictable rain patterns bring drought in farm lands particularly in Africa because unlike before, long gaps between downpours dry the land damaging plants in the process. It is for this reason that starvation and malnutrition persist in various African countries as well as other regions experiencing climate change. To offset the outcomes of overpopulation and climate change on food supply, as well as issues concerning food security, scientists introduced the genetic medication of plants and animals as one of the solutions to produce more food and meet consumption demand and ease food security around the world (Schmidhuber & Tubiello, 2007).

Genetic Modification of Food

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were injected with specific substances that would allow them to produce food even under difficult conditions or in bigger and greater amounts than organic food sources. Through genetic modifications, for instance, poultry are able to produce more eggs. Moreover, poultry mature faster than free range chickens. In this way, poultry producers would be able to meet the demand for this product. Some animals such as salmon are genetically modified to grow to bigger sizes than the average size of this species. Genetically modified plant sources, on the other hand, also mature faster than organic plants and yield bigger produce. Although the genetic modification of plants and animals is well-intentioned, the outcomes of which challenge food safety because of the possible impact of GMOs on people’s health. While some people embrace genetic modification as one of the viable solutions to food supply and security issues, others question it because of health implications. People who protest against companies or organizations that produce GMOs not only argue against the ethical implications of genetic modification but also raise the issue of health. Although some studies prove that GMOs are healthy and safety for consumption, hence their widespread distribution and production, some research studies link consumption of GMOs to diseases including cancer. For this reason, genetic modification is a food safety issue because it could possible affect people’s health in the long run. In one study, researchers fed laboratory rats with GMOs for a long period of time. After doing so, the researchers then studies the subjects’ anatomy and discovered that the rats’ continuous consumption of GMOs damaged their major organs – the kidney and liver (Walia, 2014). Moreover, the content of GMOs greatly disrupted the subjects’ hormonal levels. Although supporting research studies are scarce as of the moment, the study was published in a reputable journal publication. If we are to base our conclusions about GMOs on the research study, we may then surmise that people’s continuous consumption of genetically modified food could also eventually lead to human kidney and liver damage, as well as hormonal imbalance.

The Use of Drugs in Food Production

In relation to food security, many farmers rely on different substances or drugs to increase their yield. Illness is one of the reasons, for instance, that lower the number of poultry and livestock production. To solve the problem, farmers administer drugs to animals in order to increase their immunity to diseases (Consumer Reports, 2013). Although this practice is not questionable per se because using antibiotics helps increase the life span of animals and ascertain their maturity prior to production and distribution, antibiotic use is a food safety issue because of its implications on food consumption. Prior to distribution, some farmers feed livestock and poultry with substances to flush out antibiotics from their system. Nonetheless, this is not always the case as this process is not full proof. Scientists studied cooked meat to determine if they contain drugs or substances. Research outcomes show that traces of drugs were found in meat even if it was cooked (Consumer Reports, 2013). Furthermore, scientists found antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the same product. The implications of which are far-reaching and alarming because if drugs and antibiotic-resistant bacteria remain and survive in cooked food, human beings would consume it. People would be affected by veterinary drugs injected to livestock and poultry and worse, they would ingest bacteria and get sick but will not be able to treat their illness with antibiotics. If the bacteria ingested by people is deadly, then they would pass on because medicine would not work against antibiotic-resistant organisms.

Solutions to Food Safety Issues

As formerly noted, food safety relates to culture and sociological practices including lifestyle. Jews and Muslims who avoid consuming pork are less at risk for contracting diseases brought about by consumption of meat. Individual preferences also affect food consumption and therefore, safety. Hence, one of the solutions in maintaining food safety is people’s adoption of positive habits or activities, even if borrowed from other cultures or religions, towards the goal of consuming healthy and safe food. Awareness plays an important role in accomplishing this objective. People must be aware of food safety issues so that they would be more welcoming of various options that would help them prepare and consume healthier and safer food options. One of the more relevant outcomes of the research is the urgency of solving food safety issues. In the foregoing discussion, we pointed out the increasing need to resolve food safety issues because of mounting evidence about risks involving food. Figure 1 shows the significant rise of cases and articles about food safety issues, thus, highlighting this as a pressing global issue. People can become more aware about issues, and therefore, adopt better strategies to safeguard their health and wellbeing by reading these cases and articles. Online and physical news and sources carry different stories and information about food safety. Some articles show proper food handling, preparation and storage while research studies illustrate the impact of certain food items on the health and wellbeing of people. By reading articles related to the issue, people would know how to prepare and handle food properly, and what to do to ensure that they consume healthy and safe food products. Awareness in people could also enable them to come up with solutions themselves and contribute to the body of literature and solutions to address food safety. Scientific and technological developments may also be introduced to address the foregoing problems. Since scientists introduced genetic modification, they could also conduct research studies in order to determine solutions to the detrimental impact of GMOs on human beings’ health. Addressing food security through genetic modification is essential but the health and safety of consumers around the world is paramount. Scientists should therefore prioritize human health over the discovery and development of processes and strategies to increase the number or size of food produced over time. Recommendations, therefore, focus on continued research about food safety and the link between studies in this field to food security in order to prevent practices and strategies in food production that are detrimental to the health of human beings. Figure 1. Number of Articles in Google News Archive Related to ‘Food Safety’

Bottemiller, H. (2012). Consumer reports finds most pork contaminated with Yersinia. Retrieved from: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/11/consumer-reports-finds-most-pork-positive-for-yersinia/#.VIScYTGUeSo Consumer Reports. (2013). What’s in that pork? Retrieved from: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2013/01/what-s-in-that-pork/index.htm Kent, G. (2012). Food quality: An issue as important as safety. Retrieved from: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/07/food-safety-not-just-an-issue-of-immediate-threats/#.VIRvhDGUeSo Kliebenstein, J. B. (n.d.). Pork production contracts and food safety issues. Retrieved from: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Pages/ansci/swinereports/asl-1516.pdf Schmidhuber, J. & Tubiello, F. N. (2007). Global food security under climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(50), 19703-19708. Walia, A. (2014). New study links GMOs to cancer, liver/kidney damage & severe hormonal disruption. Retrieved from: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/07/15/new-study-links-gmos-to-cancer-liverkidney-damage-severe-hormonal-disruption/

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Essay on Food Safety

Students are often asked to write an essay on Food Safety in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Food Safety

Introduction.

Food safety is about handling, storing, and preparing food to prevent infection and diseases. It is a vital part of maintaining good health.

Importance of Food Safety

Unsafe food can lead to various diseases. By practicing food safety, we can avoid these health risks.

Food Safety Practices

We should wash our hands before handling food, keep our kitchen clean, and store food at correct temperatures to ensure food safety.

In conclusion, food safety is crucial for our health. Everyone should learn and follow food safety rules.

250 Words Essay on Food Safety

Introduction to food safety.

Food safety refers to the measures and strategies employed to ensure the quality and safety of food throughout its lifecycle, from production to consumption. It plays a crucial role in guaranteeing that food consumed does not cause harm to human health, thus preventing foodborne illnesses.

Food safety is paramount in maintaining public health and confidence in the food supply chain. It ensures the nutritional value and quality of food, preventing potential hazards such as microbial contamination, chemical exposure, and physical hazards.

Food Safety Measures

Food safety measures encompass a wide range of practices. These include proper hygiene and sanitation, temperature control during storage and cooking, and rigorous quality control during food processing and packaging.

Regulatory Bodies and Standards

Food safety is overseen by various regulatory bodies globally, like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Europe. They enforce standards and regulations to ensure food safety, such as the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system.

Challenges and the Future of Food Safety

Despite these measures, food safety faces challenges such as increasing globalization of the food supply, emerging foodborne pathogens, and antibiotic resistance. Addressing these requires innovative solutions, including advanced food safety technologies and improved regulatory frameworks.

In conclusion, food safety is an integral part of public health, ensuring the quality and safety of the food supply chain. Despite numerous challenges, the future of food safety lies in technological advancements and regulatory improvements.

500 Words Essay on Food Safety

Food safety is an essential public health concern that affects everyone. It pertains to the handling, preparation, and storage of food to prevent foodborne illnesses, which can be caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food or water.

The Importance of Food Safety

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 600 million people fall ill due to contaminated food each year, resulting in 420,000 deaths. These figures underscore the critical need for effective food safety measures. Unsafe food can lead to a range of health problems, from diarrhea and abdominal pain to long-term conditions like cancer, kidney or liver failure, brain and neural disorders.

Food safety practices are a collective responsibility, involving everyone from farmers and food producers to vendors and consumers. At the production level, farmers should use safe water and raw materials. They should also avoid using harmful pesticides and fertilizers that can contaminate crops. Food manufacturers, meanwhile, must adhere to good manufacturing practices, ensuring that their facilities are clean and that they properly handle food to prevent contamination.

At the retail and consumer levels, food should be stored and prepared correctly. This includes keeping raw and cooked food separate to avoid cross-contamination, cooking food to the right temperature to kill harmful microbes, and storing food at the correct temperature to prevent bacterial growth.

Regulation and Monitoring

Regulatory bodies play a crucial role in ensuring food safety. In the United States, for instance, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversee different aspects of food safety. They establish regulations and conduct inspections to ensure that food producers, processors, and vendors comply with food safety standards.

However, despite the best efforts of regulatory bodies, food safety incidents still occur, highlighting the need for more robust monitoring systems. Rapid alert systems for food and feed (RASFF) and traceability (the ability to track any food through all stages of production, processing, and distribution) are key tools in this regard.

In conclusion, food safety is a complex, multifaceted issue that requires the involvement of various stakeholders, including government agencies, food producers, and consumers. By adhering to best practices in food handling, preparation, and storage, and by implementing robust monitoring and regulatory measures, we can significantly reduce the incidence of foodborne illnesses and ensure the wellbeing of the global population. As our understanding of food safety continues to evolve, so too must our strategies for preventing foodborne illnesses.

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