Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in

ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed
to avoid potential health hazards. In this way food safety often overlaps with food defense to
prevent harm to consumers. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry
and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry to market
practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating
to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies
on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of
governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering
market to consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and
the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer.
Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium
for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. In developed countries there are intricate standards
for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries the main issue is simply the
availability of adequate safe water, which is usually a critical item.[1] In theory, food poisoning is
100% preventable. The five key principles of food hygiene, according to WHO, are:[2]

1. Prevent contaminating food with pathogens spreading from people, pets, and pests.
2. Separate raw and cooked foods to prevent contaminating the cooked foods.
3. Cook foods for the appropriate length of time and at the appropriate temperature to kill
pathogens.
4. Store food at the proper temperature.
5. Do use safe water and safe raw materials.

Issues[edit]
Food safety issues and regulations concern:

Agriculture and animal husbandry practices

Food manufacturing practices
Food additives
Novel foods
Genetically modified foods
Food label

Food safety in a globalized world

Access to sufficient safe food is a basic requirement for human health. Ensuring food safety
and security in a highly globalized world presents increasingly difficult, and often under-
appreciated challenges, for governments, commercial organizations and individuals alike.1,2
The risks of unsafe food are substantial, but can be difficult to quantify. Diarrhoeal diseases
both foodborne and waterborne kill an estimated two million people annually, including
many children in developing countries. Food contaminants, such as harmful parasites,
bacteria, viruses, prions, chemical or radioactive substances, cause more than 200 diseases
ranging from infectious diseases to cancers.3
In parallel with the increasing size of the world population, consumer demand for a wider
variety of foods is growing, entailing a longer and more complex food-chain. In this context,
for the World Health Day, on 7 April 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) has
chosen to focus on food safety. Today, food ingredients often come from multiple countries,
with each item having travelled thousands of kilometres from a field, farm or factory.
Contamination at one end of the food-chain can affect populations on the other side of the
world. Given the interaction of multiple actors separated by vast distances and potentially
delayed impacts, multisectoral and international cooperation is essential. Food safety needs
strengthening in many countries but no country can do this alone.
World Health Day is one of a series of actions that WHO is taking to raise awareness about
the food safety agenda and to galvanize action. WHO, in collaboration with the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has had a central international role in
developing guidelines to strengthen and harmonize food systems, in particular through the
jointly managed Codex Alimentarius Commission. Codex standards have become the de facto
international standards for food safety. WHO and FAO also manage the International Food
Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), which provides timely information during food
safety emergencies4 and assists countries in building strong systems to prevent such
incidents. WHO has also established the Global Foodborne Infections Network5 to promote
integrated, laboratory-based surveillance and foster multisectoral collaboration.
In 2010, the 63rd World Health Assembly adopted a resolution to advance food safety.6 As a
result, a strategic plan was developed which requires WHO to: (i) provide the evidence base
for measures to decrease foodborne health risks along the entire food-chain; (ii) improve
international and national cross-sectoral collaboration, including communication and
advocacy; and (iii) provide leadership and assist in the development and strengthening of risk-
based, integrated national systems for food safety.7 In November 2014, the second
International Conference on Nutrition8 reaffirmed the right for everyone to have access to
safe, sufficient and nutritious food; the need to strengthen food production and distribution
systems and the importance of fair trade practices. Recently, WHO has also provided
guidance on food safety for food producers, transporters and consumers.9
There is a need to refocus attention and to re-energize commitments on food safety
especially coordinated and cooperative actions and communications across borders. Better
data and methods are needed to estimate the health impact of foodborne diseases and to guide
response and prevention actions. This year, WHO will release the first comprehensive
estimates of the global burden of death and illness caused by foodborne diseases.10 More
investment is needed in national food safety systems, reflecting the importance of food safety
as a public health priority. Governments have several key roles to play. In addition to setting
policies, they are critical for establishing and implementing the national food safety systems
within which food producers and suppliers must operate. Consumers can stay informed, for
example, through self-education and by reading labels on packaging.
In the 21st century, collaboration is vital to achieving safe food-chains that cross national
borders. This is why WHO works closely with FAO, the World Organization for Animal
Health (OIE) and other international organizations to ensure food is safe to eat. This years
World Health Day is an opportunity to strengthen food safety across all borders and
stakeholders.
Incidence[edit]
A 2003 World Health Organization (WHO) report concluded that about 30% of reported food
poisoning outbreaks in the WHO European Region occur in private homes.[3] According to
the WHO and CDC, in the USA alone, annually, there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness
leading to 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths.[4]

Regulations by jurisdiction and agency

Australia

Food Standards Australia New Zealand requires all food businesses to implement food safety
systems. These systems are designed to ensure food is safe to consume and halt the increasing
incidence of food poisoning, and they include basic food safety training for at least one person in
each business. Food safety training is delivered in various forms by, among other organisations,
Registered Training Organizations (RTOs), after which staff are issued a nationally recognised
unit of competency code on their certificate. Basic food safety training includes:

Understanding the hazards associated with the main types of food and the conditions to
prevent the growth of bacteria which can cause food poisoning and to prevent illness.
Potential problems associated with product packaging such as leaks in vacuum packs,
damage to packaging or pest infestation, as well as problems and diseases spread by pests.
Safe food handling. This includes safe procedures for each process such as receiving, re-
packing, food storage, preparation and cooking, cooling and re-heating, displaying products,
handling products when serving customers, packaging, cleaning and sanitizing, pest control,
transport and delivery. Also covers potential causes of cross contamination.
Catering for customers who are particularly at risk of food-borne illness, as well as those
with allergies or intolerance.
Correct cleaning and sanitizing procedures, cleaning products and their correct use, and the
storage of cleaning items such as brushes, mops and cloths.
Personal hygiene, hand washing, illness, and protective clothing.
Food safety standards and requirements are set out at the national level in the Food Standards
Code, and brought Into force in each state by state-based Acts and Regulations. Legislation
means that people responsible for selling or serving unsafe food may be liable for heavy fines.
European Union[edit]

The parliament of the European Union (EU) makes legislation in the form of directives and
regulations, many of which are mandatory for member states and which therefore must be
incorporated into individual countries' national legislation. As a very large organisation that
exists to remove barriers to trade between member states, and into which individual member
states have only a proportional influence, the outcome is often seen as an excessively
bureaucratic 'one size fits all' approach. However, in relation to food safety the tendency to err on
the side of maximum protection for the consumer may be seen as a positive benefit. The EU
parliament is informed on food safety matters by the European Food Safety Authority.
Individual member states may also have other legislation and controls in respect of food safety,
provided that they do not prevent trade with other states, and can differ considerably in their
internal structures and approaches to the regulatory control of food safety.
From 13 December 2014, new legislation - the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation
1169/2011 - require food businesses to provide allergy information on food sold unpackaged, in
for example catering outlets, deli counters, bakeries and sandwich bars.[8]

India[edit]

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, established under the Food Safety and Standards
Act, 2006, is the regulating body related to food safety and laying down of standards of food
in India.

FEDERAL LEGAL ASPECT

The Food and Drug Administration publishes the Food Code, a model set of guidelines and
procedures that assists food control jurisdictions by providing a scientifically sound technical and
legal basis for regulating the retail and food service industries, including restaurants, grocery
stores and institutional foodservice providers such as nursing homes. Regulatory agencies at all
levels of government in the United States use the FDA Food Code to develop or update food
safety rules in their jurisdictions that are consistent with national food regulatory policy.
According to the FDA, 48 of 56 states and territories, representing 79% of the U.S. population,
have adopted food codes patterned after one of the five versions of the Food Code, beginning
with the 1993 edition.[22]
In the United States, federal regulations governing food safety are fragmented and complicated,
according to a February 2007 report from the Government Accountability Office.[23]There are 15
agencies sharing oversight responsibilities in the food safety system, although the two primary
agencies are the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection
Service (FSIS), which is responsible for the safety of meat, poultry, and processed egg products,
and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for virtually all other foods.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service has approximately 7,800 inspection program personnel
working in nearly 6,200 federally inspected meat, poultry and processed egg establishments.
FSIS is charged with administering and enforcing the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry
Products Inspection Act, the Egg Products Inspection Act, portions of the Agricultural Marketing
Act, the Humane Slaughter Act, and the regulations that implement these laws. FSIS inspection
program personnel inspect every animal before slaughter, and each carcass after slaughter to
ensure public health requirements are met. In fiscal year (FY) 2008, this included about 50
billion pounds of livestock carcasses, about 59 billion pounds of poultry carcasses, and about 4.3
billion pounds of processed egg products. At U.S. borders, they also inspected 3.3 billion pounds
of imported meat and poultry products.[24]
5 key challenges to food security

The report listed five challenges to food security that constitute a major threat:

Balancing future demand and supply sustainably, to ensure that food supplies are
affordable.
Ensuring that there is adequate stability in food supplies, and protecting the most
vulnerable from volatility.
Achieving global access to food and ending hunger.
Managing the contribution of the food system to the mitigation of climate change.
Maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services while feeding the world. Many food
production systems are unsustainable, putting future production at risk and continue
to degrade the environment.

The Challenge of Global Regulation of Food Safety

Food safety raises transnational concerns within the mandates of a number of inter-governmental
organizations: the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO), World Organization for Animal Health (formerly, the International Offi
ce of Epizootics), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the World Trade
Organization (WTO). Food safety was included in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations that
led to the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), one of the treaties within
the mandate of the WTO when it was established in 1995. Th e SPS Agreement requires WTO
member-states to base their sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures on relevant international
standards, guidelines and recommendations. Additionally, WTO member-states, where there is
scientifi c justifi cation, may introduce national sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures which
result in a higher level of sanitary and phyto-sanitary protection than would be achieved by SPS
measures based on the relevant international standards, guidelines, and recommendations. Th e
Codex Alimentarius Commission, jointly administered by WHO and FAO, was established by
World Health Assembly Resolution 16.42 of May 1963. Th e Codex develops standards for food
in order to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the international food
trade. Despite concerted eff orts by these international agencies, world food sources continue to
suff er contamination. Production standards vary widely between nations. Existing food safety
enforcement measures are often inconsistent within and between countries, regions and
continents. Hardly preventive or precautionary, these measures are often remedial following food
safety crises. As the food industry is driven in complex ways by international trade, developing
countries are under pressure to adopt and meet relevant international food safety standards. In the
past decade, serious incidents of food-borne disease have been reported in every region of the
world. Examples abound of unsafe food produced in both developing and developed countries
not being discovered until the product has left the country of origin and has been consumed in
another country. Th is illustrates the fact that contamination in the food chain is relatively
universal, irrespective of a nations level of development, industrialization, and food production
processes. Th e increasingly interdependent nature of global food production and distribution,
especially in countries where imports constitute a large percentage of food sourcing, exacerbates
the challenge of universal food safety standards, regulation and enforcement. Scholars and food
policy experts searching for eff ective and sustainable solutions to food chain contaminations
have advocated national and international policies that consider each stage of the food chain as a
vital and interconnected part of the whole. Th ey have advocated a preventive and proactive
regulatory framework in which each stage in the food chain faces scrutiny instead of safeguards
that are remedial and reactive to the harm caused by food contamination. Remedial measures, as
experience has shown, are ineff ective in preventing contaminated food from reaching the
consumer.

Food Safety and International Trade

Th e General Agreement on Tariff s and Trade (GATT) established in 1947 was the guiding
framework for international trade for half a century preceding the establishment of the WTO in
January 1995. GATT was principally concerned with the reduction of trade barriers and
reciprocal negotiation of tariff s between trading partners. GATT did not signifi cantly or
comprehensively address food safety except in Article XX (b), which mentions the necessity to
protect human,animal or plant life or health. In contrast to the GATT, the Uruguay Round of
Trade Negotiations that led to the establishment of the WTO produced a rules-based
international trading system with a compulsory and enforceable dispute settlement mechanism
that covers trade-related food safety disputes. Th e globalization of food safety concerns refl ects
some of the inherent tensions within the architecture of the international trading system, in which
the WTO now plays the central role in the adjudication of disputes resulting from the SPS
Agreement. Most, if not all SPS disputes at the WTO focus on the interpretive controversies of
scientifi c principles, scientifi c evidence, population health and safety, and risk assessment in
the trading relations of WTO memberstates. Th e diffi culty arises when risk assessments have to
be weighed against precaution and other uncertainties. While the SPS agreement may be useful
for the protection of global public health, it remains extremely dif- fi cult to strike the required
delicate balance between protectionism and market access commitments. Trade agreements
possess great potential to regulate and guarantee food safety, and the SPS agreement plays a
crucial role in this endeavour. Th e ability of the international community to curtail protectionist
behaviour while adhering to food safety regulations, standards and provisions that safeguard diff
erential trade treatment for developing and least-developed countries, compels a socially
responsible approach to food safety as one of the key steps to sustain consumer trust in the long
term. In this endeavour, the WTO dispute settlement bodies should consider the relevance of the
precautionary approach/principle in food safety disputes fraught with uncertainties, and where
scientifi c evidence is neither certain nor conclusive.

Conclusion

Th e globalization of food markets has resulted in the globalization of each countrys food
chain; every nations food chain is now interdependent with the others. According to the WHOs
Global Strategy for Food Safety, the integration and consolidation of agricultural and food
industries and the globalization of the food trade are changing the patterns of food production
and distribution. An eff ective and sustainable global regulatory framework that guarantees safe
food, protects population health and boosts consumer trust must address a variety of factors
within countries at various stages of development. Despite a number of food safety strategies and
regulatory frameworks adopted, promoted and sometimes enforced by international and regional
organizations, food contamination remains not just a recurrent phenomenon around the world; it
persistently threatens human health leading to deaths, hospitalizations and enormous fi nancial
costs. Globally, a holistic norm setting agenda is needed to set reachable standards bearing in
mind the disparities between nations. Local, national, regional and global implementation of
more stringent international measures must guarantee sustainability, social responsibility and
transparency throughout the rapidly integrating global food chain. Relevant to all of this is an
opportunity for consumers to make informed choices about how their food is produced,
processed and handled, thereby increasing incentives for a balanced approach to food safety,
international trade and the promotion of population health within nations. Th e question is how to
avoid a long waiting time while nations converge and integrate their food safety policies and
regulations. Th e answer may well be to equip consumers globally with easy access to essential
food safety/food industry data. Consumer choice can thus be based on optimised risk
management in the consumers dilemma between quality and price.