Food safety, improvements

Actual and perceived food safety concerns have necessitated an increase in the monitoring of foods for such natural contaminants as aflatoxins and for residues of pesticides. Immunoassays can provide rapid, simple, and relatively inexpensive methods for the detection of analytes with specificity and with sensitivities directed at the levels of concern. Particularly for aflatoxins, they are rapidly assuming a significant role in the monitoring of foods. However, the misuse of these techniques can potentially compromise any food safety improvement that may result from increased surveillance. Experiences of the Division of Contaminants Chemistry in the development, validation, and applications of immunoassays for natural toxins is discussed. 

Reinemann, D. J., Gouws, P., Cilliers, T., Houck, K., and Bishop, J. R. (2006). New methods for UV treatment of milk for improved food safety and product quality. ASABE Paper Number 066088. ASABE. 

Sundrum A and Acosta Aragon Y (2005), Nutritional strategies to improve the sensory quality and food safety of pork while improving production efficiency within organic framework conditions , Report of the EU-project, Improving Quality and Safety and Reduction of Costs in the European Organic and Low Input Supply Chains, no. CT-2003 506358. 

The recently published book on food safety related to animal products Improving the Safety of Fresh Meat edited by Sofos (Sofos, 2005) is a very valuable resource that covers different strategies of control and understanding the ecology of pathogens transmitted via meat. Another book that covers the topic of farm-to-fork food safety with relevant information on livestock... 

Consumers expectations about the safety of products such as poultry meat and eggs have never been higher. The need to improve food safety has led to renewed attention on controlling contamination at all stages of the supply chain from farm to fork . This collection reviews the latest research and best practice in ensuring the safety of poultry meat and eggs, both on the farm and in subsequent processing operations. 

Worldwide data are not readily available as many nations do not publish the results of their animal residue monitoring programs. The best available data are those published regularly by the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It is possible to go back over data for many years and demonstrate improvements in the residue situation, however the records for the past few years are the important ones as they are representative of current or recent events. Since the publication of worldwide residue data is at best sparse and not consistent, this chapter has made use of the regularly published residue data from the FSIS/USDA surveys, which are available on the Internet. The assumption made in this chapter, and perhaps there is a certain naivete to this assumption, is that international residue usage is similar to that found by the FSIS/USDA. This assumption is based upon the frequency of residues found in meat products imported into the U.S. 

Chemical substances make a vital contribution to almost aU aspects of the hves of human beings. Chemicals bring about improvements in the health of the population and our quahty of life through new developments in, for example, treatment of disease, food safety, or crop protection. They also make a vital contribution to the economic and social well-being of citizens in terms of trade and employment. The global production of chemicals has increased from about 1 rnilhon tons in 1930 to more than 400 million tons today, and more than 100,000 different chemical substances are now on the market. 

Chemical products are of vital importance to the economic and social well being of our society in terms of trade and employment. Numerous chemical substances are used in a broad range of products and processes. They also help to improve the health and quality of life of the population through new developments such as in pharmaceuticals, food safety, pesticides and in many other products. During or after their use, these substances are released to the environment to a varying extent and may lead to pollution. This results in both ecological and - due to unnecessary losses - economic disadvantages. 

The global nature of the food supply and world food trade have made food quality and food safety international issues. Hence, since its inception, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been working toward the improvement of food safety. In partnership with the Lood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (LAO), WHO provides for the Secretariat of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). The latter Commission is responsible for all matters pertaining to the implementation of the Joint LAO/WHO Lood Standards Program. 

In addition to the need for scientific improvements to allow probabilistic risk assessments to be properly performed and interpreted, there also exists a need to educate stakeholders about what the US system for tolerance establishment and monitoring does and does not do. In simplest terms, the US system can be described as a food quality system but not necessarily a food safety system. This results from the fact that the pesticide tolerances are not safety standards but rather exist as enforcement tools that allow an assessment of how well pesticide application regulations are adhered to. Violative residues demonstrate the likelihood of pesticide misuse but should not be considered, in the vast majority of cases, to represent unsafe residues. Safety considerations govern whether or not the use of pesticides on specified commodities will be permitted tolerances, when granted, serve as indicators of good agricultural practices rather than as toxicological benchmarks. 

Making Progress in Plant Proteomics for Improved Food Safety... 

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