From a nutritional aspect, it is food that contains the nutrients humans need and that help prevent long term chronic disease, promoting health into old age.
From a food safety aspect, it is food that is free not only from toxins, pesticides and chemical and physical contaminants, but also from microbiological pathogens such as bacteria and viruses that can cause illness.
While America ‘s food supply is among the safest in the world, there are still numerous threats to the safety of the food supply. Some of these threats have been around since ancient times, while others are newer the result of changing lifestyles, production practices and even evolution of microorganism themselves.
Ensuring the safety of food is a shared responsibility among producers, industry, government, and consumers.
At least four factors are necessary for foodborne illness to occur:
- Pathogen
- Food vehicle
- Condition that allow the pathogen to survive, reproduce, or produce a toxin
- Susceptible person who ingests enough of the pathogen or its toxin to cause illness
Most people have experienced foodborne illness, even though they might not recognize it as such instead blaming it on the “stomach flu” or “24 hour bug”.
Symptoms usually disappear within a few days, but in some cases there can be more long lasting effects such as joint inflammation or kidney failure.
In the most severe cases people die from foodborne illness.
It is difficult to trace about of foodborne illness back to a particular food because illness can occur anywhere from an hour to several days, or even weeks, after eating the contaminated food.
Epidemiologists faced with tracing a foodborne illness outbreak may have to interview dozens of people, asking them to recall everything they ate for the past week.
It is difficult for people to remember everything they are yesterday much less one ago.
Further complicating the picture is that one person may eat the contaminated food and not becoming ill, while someone else in a higher risk group does.
The meaning of food safe
