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Food safety: global perspective.

Article Excerpt
The availability of safe food improves the health of people and is a basic human right. Safe food contributes to health and productivity and provides an effective platform for development and poverty alleviation; people are becoming increasingly concerned about the health risks posed by microbial pathogens and potentially hazardous chemicals in food. Up to one-third of the populations of developed countries are affected by foodborne illness each year, and the problem is likely to be even more widespread in developing countries. The poor are the most susceptible to ill health. Food and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases, for example, are leading causes of illness and death in less developed countries, killing an estimated 2.2 million people annually, most of whom are children. Diarrhea is the most common symptom of food borne illness, but other serious consequences include kidney and liver failure, brain and neural disorders, and death. The debilitating long-term complications of foodborne disease include reactive arthritis and paralysis.

Trends in global food production, processing, distribution and preparation present new challenges to food safety. Food grown in one country can now be transported and consumed halfway across the world. People demand a wider variety of foods than in the past, they want foods that are not in season and often eat away form home. Institutionalizing children in schools and childcare facilities and a growing number of elderly persons in hospitals and nursing homes means that food for many is prepared by a few and can therefore be the source of major foodborne disease outbreaks. Greater life expectancy and increasing numbers of ammino-compromised people mean a larger vulnerable population for whom unsafe food is often an even more serious threat.

Food safety as an essential public health issue

Serious outbreaks of foodborne disease have been documented on every continent, illustration both the public health and social significance of these diseases. Consumers everywhere view foodborne disease outbreaks with ever-increasing concern. Outbreaks are likely, however, to be only the most visible aspect of a much broader, more persistent problem. Foodborne disease most seriously affect children, pregnant women, the elderly and people already affected by other diseases. Foodborne disease not only significantly affects people's health and well being,...