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Food safety is related to the presence of all those foodborne hazards, which makes food
Shendurse AM,1 Sawale PD2
unsafe to consume and injurious to health, if consumed. Food safety is a basic need but 1
Department of Dairy Chemistry, S. D. Agricultural University,
there is a danger that it may be overlooked for process efficiency and economy. Food India
reaches to consumers via supply chains consisting different types of organizations. 2
Department of Dairy Technology, College of Dairy Technology,
A critical issue in improving the level of food safety is an integrated approach of MAFSU, India
controlling the safety of food during the entire food chain i.e. right through farm
to the consumer’s table, but little is known about the characterization of safe food, Correspondence: Shendurse AM, Department of Dairy &
the nature of food safety hazards, the establishment of acceptable hazard levels, the Food Chemistry, College of Dairy Science & Food Technology,
strategy of food safety improvement and the methods for valuating the improvement. Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University,
The increasing incidences of foodborne diseases and its resultant social and economic Sardarkrushinagar - 385506, Dist.: Banaskantha, Gujarat (India),
impact on the human population have brought food safety to the forefront of public Email
health concerns. The considerable increase of illness caused by consuming unhygienic
Received: March 26, 2017 | Published: February 07, 2019
food in both developed and developing countries has provided substantial impact on
financial costs besides causing health hazards. This has necessitated the need for the
development and introduction of new food safety standards and regulations to reach a
higher level of food safety.
necessary preventive actions (Figure 1 highlights the sources of goals (self-regulation) and the external (certification) requirements
food contamination). of buyers.8 In recent years, consumers’ confidence in the safety of
food has been damaged mainly due to the effect of a number of food-
iv. Enforce compliance by farmers, manufacturers, distributors,
related crises. Many times we experience one or more episodes of
importers and other stakeholders of the food supply chain
foodborne illness, without ever knowing that it was food that caused
v. Be transparent and promote public confidence.7 the illness. Generally, these illnesses are preventable if safe food
handling practices are followed. As a consequence, consumers show
Food safety is a combined work of food companies and public. growing concerns about food safety hazards and hence the demand
The important economic incentives for companies to provide for safer food increases. The increased demand for safer food has led
improved food safety arise from (1) public incentives such as ex ante to the introduction and development of new food safety regulations
requirements for sale of a product with sufficient quality and ex post and standards to reach a goal of higher level of food safety. Moreover,
penalties (liability) for sale of products with poor quality, and (2) consumers are willing to pay higher prices for safer foods having
private incentives for producing quality such as internal performance premium quality.9,10
Table 1 Food Safety– “7” Points “to do”.36
Points to do Why?
iii. Keep a record of receiving iii. A good record helps investigation when food incident occurs
i. Always keep
i. Bacteria in food grow and reproduce fast within dangerous tempe-
rature zone from 4oC to 63oC
ii. Raw meat and perishable food below 4oC
v. Separate cooked food from raw food ii. Reduce risk of cross-contamination
vi. Always place food on food shelf 0.5m above floor iii. Prevent contamination of food by floor or related activities
III. Store cooked food in shallow containers III. Allow fast cooling of cooked food
i. Wash all fresh food before cooking i. To wash away dirt adhered on food surface
ii. Cut chunky food (meat) into smaller pieces before cooking
ii. Temperature used during cooking may not be sufficient to kill all
Thaw frozen Vegetables, meat and poultry thoroughly
micro organisms if all parts are not completely thawed
before cooking
iii. Thaw frozen food at 4oC
iv. Avoid preparing food too far in advance before consump- iii. Keeping at low temperature can lower the rate of multiplication of
tion bacteria
v. Cook food thoroughly. Center of the food to achieve 75oC
iv. Shorten the time for bacterial growth as far as possible
temperature
vi. Reheat foods/leftovers thoroughly as above (only once) v. Thorough cooking kills bacteria
vii. While preparing cold mixed dishes, e.g. salad, always cool
vi. Thorough heating kills bacteria which develop during storage
the cooked component before adding other ingredients
vii. Large amount of hot food cools down slowly, and during that
period, bacteria from other ingredients may multiply
Citation: Shendurse AM, Sawale PD. Food safety – a key to healthy life. J Nutr Health Food Eng. 2019;9(1):10‒16. DOI: 10.15406/jnhfe.2019.09.00320
Copyright:
Food safety – a key to healthy life ©2019 Shendurse et al. 12
Table Continued...
Points to do Why?
iii. Remove jewellery before working iii. Jewellery accumulates muck and may accidentally fall into food
iv. Bandage wounds and septic sores on hands and arms with
iv. Wounds and septic sores may be infected with bacteria
waterproof dressings
v. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water every time v. Hands carry bacteria. Plain water alone cannot remove bacteria
before / after work and after visiting toilet and dirt
vi. Turn away from food and cover your nose and mouth when
sneezing and coughing. Use a paper towel and wash hands vi. Healthy people may also carry bacteria in their nose and throats
immediately afterwards
There is no generally accepted definition of ‘safe food’ as such. iii. Cooked foods should be served as soon as possible.
One of the frequently used science-based definitions is that safe food iv. Store cooked food at temperatures beyond danger zone.
is “food that is wholesome and that does not exceed an acceptable
level of risk associated either with physical or chemical hazards and/ v. Reheat cooked food thoroughly.
or pathogenic microorganisms”.11 The safety of domestic food can vi. Avoid cross contamination.
be maintained and achieved by implementing simple precautionary
vii. Be clean, keep clean and serve clean.
measures as given in the following Golden Rules list.
viii. Ensure pest control.
Golden rules of food safety
ix. Use potable water for cooking.
i. Choose processed raw materials.
Citation: Shendurse AM, Sawale PD. Food safety – a key to healthy life. J Nutr Health Food Eng. 2019;9(1):10‒16. DOI: 10.15406/jnhfe.2019.09.00320
Copyright:
Food safety – a key to healthy life ©2019 Shendurse et al. 13
Principles of food safety In other words, the hazards can be categorized into chemical
hazards, microbiological hazards and physical hazards. Among
The food safety principles aim to avoid food contamination and chemical hazards it is important to differentiate between residues
food poisoning. This could be achieved by adopting different avenues, such as pesticides, growth promoters and veterinary medicines and
such as:12 contaminants such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and
i. Proper cleaning and sanitization of all surfaces, utensils and heavy metals. Figure 2 describes the chemical hazards in food.7 In
equipments. contrast to chemical hazards, microbiological hazards are caused
by living organisms. Microorganisms can enter the chain at any
ii. Maintaining a high level of personal hygiene, particularly hand- stage through various origins like animals, workers, environmental
washing. contamination, etc. Microbiological hazards refer to microorganisms
iii. Correct heating, chilling and storing of food with regard to such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, protozoa and fungi (Figure 3). They
equipment, environment and temperature. can be either toxigenic or infectious. Despite the long list of potential
microbiological hazards, a few species and genera (Clostridium
iv. Implementing effective pest control. botulium, Clostridium peifringens, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus
v. Comprehending food intolerance, food allergies and food aureus, Salmonella, Shigella and Campilobacter), and the intestinally
poisoning. pathogenic Escherichia coli cause the majority of food-poisoning
cases.7 Physical hazards relate to various foreign particles not
normally found in a product. Examples are metal, pieces of wood and
sand (Figure 4). The nature of physical hazards in the food chain is
rather different from the nature of other hazards. Besides, compared
with chemical or microbiological hazards, physical hazards are less
likely to affect large numbers of people.7
Citation: Shendurse AM, Sawale PD. Food safety – a key to healthy life. J Nutr Health Food Eng. 2019;9(1):10‒16. DOI: 10.15406/jnhfe.2019.09.00320
Copyright:
Food safety – a key to healthy life ©2019 Shendurse et al. 14
product, do not multiply, but the product cannot be decontaminated.15 nations.22 Because of the non-uniform distribution of microorganisms
Till date a complete risk assessment has not been made for many of in the end product and possible recontamination during the production
the known hazards. Due to production, processing, distribution and process these approaches do not guarantee total absence of pathogens.
other practices as well as international trade (import and export), new Simultaneously, microbiological inspection of all food is physically
hazards may emerge in addition to the existing hazards.15,16 and financially impossible.16 In addition, it is impractical to apply
end-product microbiological criteria for products that will have
been distributed and probably consumed before microbiological
examinations are completed.23 So, appropriate measures needs to
be implemented at the earlier stages in the food chain in order to
prevent the presence of a hazard in later stages. Making food safe
from the hazards involves prevention, elimination or reduction of the
hazards by means of a set of diverse actions and activities, i.e., a set
of control measures.13 It is hard, probably impossible, to eliminate
all potential microbiological hazards from the environment. Besides,
if microorganisms are present in a product, they may multiply
themselves. As a result, control of microbiological hazards in a single
stage does not ensure their absence in subsequent stages in the chain.
This makes the control of microbiological hazards complicated as a
set of measures implemented in one stage has consequences for the
Figure 4 Physical hazards in food. subsequent stages in the chain.24 Contamination and spread could
probably be controlled by educating the masses regarding food
Strategy for improving food safety safety. Food safety education is the most effective means of spreading
messages regarding foodborne illness likely to be caused due to
The simple strategy for improving food safety revolves around
changing behaviors. The five major control factors for pathogens are
the basic objective i.e. preventing food contamination and when
adequate cooking, keeping food at safe temperatures, avoiding foods
necessary carrying out decontamination. Present production methods
from unsafe sources, avoiding cross-contamination and personal
cannot totally prevent food contamination and the complexity of
hygiene.25 The lower the pathogen ‘load’ of primary products (inputs),
food handling and processing methods provide ample opportunity for
the smaller the chance that pathogens reach the consumer and lead to
access as well as survival and growth of pathogens.17 Government
food-borne illness.16
and industry share a common goal to ensure the safety of foods. To
achieve this common goal each must fulfill its distinctly separate Contaminated food causes considerable health and economic
but complementary roles. Industry has the primary responsibility for consequences for individuals, families, population groups and
ensuring food safety. Government’s role is to verify that industry is entire countries. Epidemiological surveillance in several industrial
fulfilling its responsibility.18 Beyond these basic responsibilities there countries during the last two to three decades indicates that there is
are many additional activities wherein the two interact. Governments even a considerable increase in the prevalence of foodborne illness. In
enforce higher safety levels for the nation’s food supply in terms of developing countries, infant diarrhoea appears to be the most important
reducing the incidence of food-borne illnesses.19 At the same time health problem related to contaminated food.26 While few patients
producers along the chain try to meet the existing acceptable hazard with foodborne illness present with life-threatening symptoms, there
levels and to minimize the probability that their products are identified are a number of foodborne infectious diseases and toxins that the
as the cause of an illness.20 Despite the different backgrounds, all emergency physician or other health care provider must consider in
parties are concerned with the way in which a higher level of food the evaluation of these patients.27 One of the most important strategies
safety can be reached in the most economic way. It is important to to reverse the upward trend of foodborne diseases is, therefore, for
realize that complete safety is likely to be unrealistic. There can be the health sector to get fully involved in food safety. Mandatory and
no ‘zero-risk’, not only in life generally but even in food. In order voluntary adoption of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points in the
to ensure the food safety, a proper food control in compliance with foodservice and processing industries will contribute to a decrease
labelling (e.g. in the case of functional food) is required. People have in foodborne illness outbreaks from traditional foods.28 Food can’t
always been concerned about the safety and quality of the food they any longer be considered only as an agricultural/trade commodity but
eat.21 It is unlikely that in the foreseeable future it will be possible to must be seen as a public health issue and Ministries of Health have to
deliver pathogen-free food. If possible at all, this would mean taking accept food safety as an essential public health function, as recently
extraordinary measures worldwide and increasing the cost of food recommended by the World Health Organization.26
beyond levels most people can afford. For this reason, the best strategy
is to establish priorities for hazards, foods and consumer groups by WHO’s response on food safety
means of risk management programmes based on risk-assessment. WHO aims to facilitate global prevention, detection and response
Risk assessment is necessary for appropriate risk management. In this to public health threats associated with unsafe food. Ensuring
regard, the role of food chemists and analysts is critical as they have consumer trust in their authorities, and confidence in the safe food
to look that food risk management must be based on sound science supply, is an outcome that WHO works to achieve. In order to do this,
and fact.21 Moreover, applying a number of measures along the chain, WHO helps Member States to build capacity to prevent, detect and
including HACCP, can control most potential hazards.16 manage foodborne risks by:
The approaches to food safety criteria that have been developed are i. Providing independent scientific assessments on microbiological
based on end product testing which frequently differs among various and chemical hazards that form the basis for international food
Citation: Shendurse AM, Sawale PD. Food safety – a key to healthy life. J Nutr Health Food Eng. 2019;9(1):10‒16. DOI: 10.15406/jnhfe.2019.09.00320
Copyright:
Food safety – a key to healthy life ©2019 Shendurse et al. 15
standards, guidelines and recommendations, known as the Codex ii. Though food safety is assured by FSMS throughout food chain,
Alimentarius, to ensure food is safe wherever it originates; it is utmost necessary to maintain the global prevalence of ISO
22000 series as well as to frequently amend the already published
ii. Assessing the safety of new technologies used in food production,
standards. Also new standards need to be developed along with
such as genetic modification and nanotechnology;
the technical specifications as per the need of product, services
iii. Helping improve national food systems and legal frameworks, and and market.30
implement adequate infrastructure to manage food safety risks.
The International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) iii. Despite numerous food safety information campaigns and
was developed by WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture educational efforts, microbial foodborne illness remains a
Organization (FAO) to rapidly share information during food significant source of human disease.32 Microbes that enter the
safety emergencies; food chain at different steps are highly versatile and can adapt
to the environment allowing survival, growth and production
iv. Promoting safe food handling through systematic disease of toxic compounds. This sets them apart from chemical agents
prevention and awareness programmes, through the WHO Five and thus their study from food toxicology.31 New food safety
Keys to Safer Food message and training materials; and messages transmitted using new media are required to enhance
v. Advocating for food safety as an important component of health food safety from farm-to-fork.32
security and for integrating food safety into national policies and iv. Developments that may influence food safety in the future occur
programmes in line with the International Health Regulations on different scales (from global to molecular) and in different
(IHR - 2005). time frames (from decades to less than a minute). Taking into
WHO works closely with FAO, the World Organization for Animal account the impact of different drivers of change, new risk
Health (OIE) and other international organizations to ensure food assessment approaches should be developed.31
safety along the entire food chain from production to consumption.29 v. Considering the risk associated with recurrent outbreaks of
foodborne illness from commercial food sources, it is important
Role of Food Safety Management System to recognize various syndromes of foodborne illness, including
(FSMS) in implementing food safety those, which may require specific evaluation and management
strategies.27
Food quality and safety has received attention in the food
processing sector and is the basis of all initiatives taken on different vi. Current developments in molecular techniques make it possible
activity levels starting from farm to enterprises as a whole on regional, to rapidly assemble information on the genome of various isolates
national and international levels. In order to prevent food from of microbial species of concern. Such information can be used
getting contaminated at any point- “from farm to fork, from stable to develop new tracking and tracing methods, and to investigate
to table, from boat to throat, from spring to drink and from plough the behavior of microorganisms under environmentally relevant
to plate”, the ISO 22000 standard was published by International stress conditions.31
Organization for Standardization (ISO) which is engaged in the quality
management systems and is focused on safety and quality of food. vii. Food safety education and evaluation in the future should
ISO 22000 also known as Food Safety Management System (FSMS) be organized around five behavioral constructs: cook foods
is an international auditable standard which has been developed as an adequately, keep food at safe temperatures, avoid food from
international solution for improving the food safety. It is a fusion of unsafe sources, avoid cross-contamination and practice personal
the ISO 9001, Quality Management System and Hazard Analysis and hygiene.33
Critical Control Point (HACCP). ISO 22000:2005 is implemented to viii. Food processing sectors are adopting new technologies like pulse
ensure food safety in the food supply chain as a replacement for of electric field, electrolyzed oxidation, ultra sonication, ohmic
applying ISO 9001:2000, HACCP and good manufacturing practices heating, etc., so as to maintain better sensory and nutritional
independently. It ensures supply of safe food throughout the food qualities of food. Hence, there is need to amend, upgrade, revise
chain and provides a framework of internationally harmonized system and promote the criteria for food safety.34,35
that has universal acceptance. Consecutively, ISO 22000 produces a
much effective auditable FSMS approach by incorporating critical Conclusion
control point and hazard analysis systems in more improved structure.
This standard endorses conformity of services and products for Food safety itself is rather complex. There is no single indicator
international trading by assuring about reliability, food quality and that can be used to measure the safety of food products. Food safety
food safety. ISO 22000 along with its sister standards are auditable, is a joint responsibility of all organizations with in the food chain
reliable, and reasonable to ensure safe production, distribution, and including, producers, manufactures, transport and storage operators,
consumption of food.30 sub contractors, retail and food service outlets and service providers.
In addition, the increasing complexity of the global food systems
Future challenges necessitates improved communication between all parties involved:
scientists, risk assessors and risk managers, as well as consumers.
i. Management of food safety is based on generally accepted
principles of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points and of Food safety failures often arise from problems caused by the
Good Manufacturing Practices. However, a more pro-active, ability of hazards to enter the production chain at many points. For
science-based approach is required, starting with the ability to food safety hazards, the established acceptable levels are implicit
predict where problems might arise by applying the risk analysis and need further clarification to make the process of food safety
framework.31 improvement understandable for producers. With an aging population
Citation: Shendurse AM, Sawale PD. Food safety – a key to healthy life. J Nutr Health Food Eng. 2019;9(1):10‒16. DOI: 10.15406/jnhfe.2019.09.00320
Copyright:
Food safety – a key to healthy life ©2019 Shendurse et al. 16
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food safety risk reductions. J of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
1998;30(1):69–82.
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Citation: Shendurse AM, Sawale PD. Food safety – a key to healthy life. J Nutr Health Food Eng. 2019;9(1):10‒16. DOI: 10.15406/jnhfe.2019.09.00320