The global food-supply chain is vulnerable to threats from a variety of directions. Hence food security and safety remains a hot topic worldwide in academic research arenas and food industry practices. This book describes efforts from academia, government, and industry to counter food terrorism and to protect the food supply against any threat. In addition, it evaluates the global food supply, production capabilities, and food availability during and after disasters. Articles in the book assess food safety emergencies, and the prevention of, and response to deliberate contamination by microbial or chemical substances. Minimization of health and economic risks following a terrorist act or unintentional contamination is likewise discussed. The book also examines novel preservation techniques, methods to produce safe food products, and other concerns for ensuring a stable and safe food supply.

Recent outbreaks of illnesses traced to contaminated sprouts and lettuce illustrate the holes that exist in the system for monitoring problems and preventing foodborne diseases. Although it is not solely responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation's food supply, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees monitoring and intervention for 80 percent of the food supply. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's abilities to discover potential threats to food safety and prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness are hampered by impediments to efficient use of its limited resources and a piecemeal approach to gathering and using information on risks. Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration, a new book from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, responds to a congressional request for recommendations on how to close gaps in FDA's food safety systems. Enhancing Food Safety begins with a brief review of the Food Protection Plan (FPP), FDA's food safety philosophy developed in 2007. The lack of sufficient detail and specific strategies in the FPP renders it ineffectual. The book stresses the need for FPP to evolve and be supported by the type of strategic planning described in these pages. It also explores the development and implementation of a stronger, more effective food safety system built on a risk-based approach to food safety management. Conclusions and recommendations include adopting a risk-based decision-making approach to food safety; creating a data surveillance and research infrastructure; integrating federal, state, and local government food safety programs; enhancing efficiency of inspections; and more. Although food safety is the responsibility of everyone, from producers to consumers, the FDA and other regulatory agencies have an essential role. In many instances, the FDA must carry out this responsibility against a backdrop of multiple stakeholder interests, inadequate resources, and competing priorities. Of interest to the food production industry, consumer advocacy groups, health care professionals, and others, Enhancing Food Safety provides the FDA and Congress with a course of action that will enable the agency to become more efficient and effective in carrying out its food safety mission in a rapidly changing world.

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.

This book provides an overview of issues associated primarily with food safety, shelf-life assessment and preservation of foods. Food safety and protection is a multidisciplinary topic that focuses on the safety, quality, and security aspects of food. Food safety issues involve microbial risks in food products, foodborne infections, and intoxications and food allergenicity. Food protection deals with trends and risks associated with food packaging, advanced food packaging systems for enhancing product safety, the development and application of predictive models for food microbiology, food fraud prevention, and food laws and regulations with the aim to provide safe foods for consumers. Food Safety and Protection covers various aspects of food safety, security, and protection. It discusses the challenges involved in the prevention and control of foodborne illnesses due to microbial spoilage, contamination, and toxins. It starts with documentation on the microbiological and chemical hazards, including allergens, and extends to the advancements in food preservation and food packaging. The book covers new and safe food intervention techniques, predictive food microbiology, and modeling approaches. It reviews the legal framework, regulatory agencies, and laws and regulations for food protection. The book has five sections dealing with the topics of predictive microbiology for safe foods; food allergens, contaminants, and toxins; preservation of foods; food packaging; and food safety laws.

Food Safety in the 21st Century: Public Health Perspective is an important reference for anyone currently working in the food industry or those entering the industry. It provides realistic, practical, and very usable information about key aspects of food safety, while also systematically approaching the matter of foodborne illness by addressing the intricacies of both prevention and control. This book discusses ways to assess risk and to employ epidemiological methods to improve food safety. In addition, it also describes the regulatory context that shapes food safety activities at the local, national, and international levels and looks forward to the future of food safety. - Provides the latest research and developments in the field of food safety - Incorporates practical, real-life examples for risk reduction - Includes specific aspects of food safety and the risks associated with each sector of the food chain, from food production, to food processing and serving - Describes various ways in which epidemiologic principles are applied to meet the challenges of maintaining a safe food supply in India and how to reduce disease outbreaks - Presents practical examples of foodborne disease incidents and their root causes to highlight pitfalls in food safety management

Food Safety and Preservation: Modern Biological Approaches to Improving Consumer Health explores the most recent and investigated hot topics in food safety, microbial contamination, food-borne diseases and advanced preservation methods. It brings together the significant, evidence-based scientific progress of various approaches to improve the safety and quality of foods, also offering solutions to help address food industry challenges. Recent studies and technological advancements in biological control are presented to control foodborne pathogens. In addition, analytical methods for reducing potential biological hazards make this book essential to researchers, scientists, technologists and grad students. - Covers all aspects of food contamination, from food degradation, to food-borne diseases - Examines validated, biological control approaches to reduce microbial and chemical contamination - Includes detailed discussions of risk and safety assessments in food preservation

Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions offers a multidisciplinary approach on major food industry regulatory compliance changes that have emerged since the landmark 1993 E.coli outbreak. The book is broad in coverage, providing a look back at 25 years of change in order to better conceptualize the future of effective and sustainable food safety compliance efforts and technologies. Historical case studies and technological developments are written by experts and those who played key roles in events. Topics are explained in a way that not only helps improve industry and consumer awareness, but also offers tools to improve education and communication. Provides understanding of the true burden of disease Examines industry change over the past 25 years and beyond Explains the consumer and industry forces behind FSMA passage and implementation Analyzes criticisms of FSMA and the quest for an integrated food safety partnership Offers considerations for effective and sustainable use of new technologies, including Blockchain

Despite advances in hygiene, food treatment, and food processing, diseases caused by foodborne pathogens continue to constitute a worldwide public health concern. Ensuring food safety to protect public health remains a significant challenge in both developing and developed nations. Food Safety and Human Health provides a framework to manage food safety risks and assure a safe food system. Political, economic, and ecological changes have led to the re-emergence of many foodborne pathogens. The globalization of food markets, for example, has increased the challenge to manage the microbial risks. This reference will help to identify potential new approaches in the development of new microbiologically safe foods that will aid in preventing food borne illness outbreaks and provides the basic principles of food toxicology, food processing, and food safety. Food Safety and Human Health is an essential resource to help students, researchers, and industry professionals understand and address day-to-day problems regarding food contamination and safety. - Encompasses the first pedagogic treatment of the entire range of toxic compounds found naturally in foods or introduced by industrial contaminatio - Identifies areas of vital concern to consumers, such as toxicological implications of food, and human health implications of food processing - Focuses on safety aspects of genetically modified foods and the range of processing techniques along with the important food safety laws

Globalization of the food supply has created conditions favorable for the emergence, reemergence, and spread of food-borne pathogens-compounding the challenge of anticipating, detecting, and effectively responding to food-borne threats to health. In the United States, food-borne agents affect 1 out of 6 individuals and cause approximately 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year. This figure likely represents just the tip of the iceberg, because it fails to account for the broad array of food-borne illnesses or for their wide-ranging repercussions for consumers, government, and the food industry-both domestically and internationally. A One Health approach to food safety may hold the promise of harnessing and integrating the expertise and resources from across the spectrum of multiple health domains including the human and veterinary medical and plant pathology communities with those of the wildlife and aquatic health and ecology communities. The IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop on December 13 and 14, 2011 that examined issues critical to the protection of the nation's food supply. The workshop explored existing knowledge and unanswered questions on the nature and extent of food-borne threats to health. Participants discussed the globalization of the U.S. food supply and the burden of illness associated with foodborne threats to health; considered the spectrum of food-borne threats as well as illustrative case studies; reviewed existing research, policies, and practices to prevent and mitigate foodborne threats; and, identified opportunities to reduce future threats to the nation's food supply through the use of a "One Health" approach to food safety. Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach: Workshop Summary covers the events of the workshop and explains the recommendations for future related workshops.