Food is a basic need not only to human beings, but also to all living organisms. It is through food that humans acquire the necessary nutrients that are crucial in maintaining and fostering their development and growth. In this respect, food safety falls in the category of vital docket that command inevitable consideration. A population can be easily wiped out through poisoning of food to be consumed. The increase in population calls for increased food production, which intern has culminated to eruption of ample food processing industries (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). These industries need to be regulated, and consistent evaluation and analysis of their products staged with the aim of safeguarding the consumers’ interest. The determinants of food safety are broadly categorized into social and physical determinants. Social determinants encompass those approaches incline to population of the persons handling foodstuffs at a given time. Physical determinants include foreign particle that affects the quality of food. They may include pathogens and chemical elements.
Food safety is regarded as an act aimed at ensuring that the ingredients of any food substance are health both in type and quantity. Other than the ingredients, food safety encompasses the method of preparation, storage, handling and distribution (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Right from preparation, storage, purchase and usage, food safety should be observed. Food safety measures that need to be observed during purchasing include distribution channels, food handling, economic value and nutritional value. The means by which food is distributed from seller to consumer matters a lot. For instance, it is during this stage that food may encounter issues of distortion, contamination and exposure pathogens. These faults are also common during food handling. Therefore, producer, distributors and the consumer should consider handling food in hygienic manner. Policies should be enacted with the aim of safeguarding the consumer economically by ensuring that the nutritional and economic value of the food is observed.
During storage, key players should ensure that food is stored in pathogen free environment or storage environment modified to limit or eliminate pathogens favorable conditions completely. The duration of storage should also be considered to avoid deterioration of food and denaturation of nutrients. Another stage that food safety should be vetted is during preparation/processing. The processing firm should ensure that the ingredients stated rhymes quantity and quality with those actually in the product. This will help customers in deciding the nutritional composition they will source from these foodstuffs. However, it has been identified that some food processing industries will give completely different figures and even names of ingredients present in the product with the aim of increasing market share (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012).
Contemporary, the conditions inclined to poor lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits are on the rise. This poses a crucial challenge raising reasons to worry about food safety. Commonly known conditions that may arise from poor food safety include diabetes, heart problems, cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea. These can be consummately avoided through proper food handing, sticking to the nutritional guidelines for nutrient requirement, proper food storage and proper food preparation/cooking.
At times, businesses tend to shift the prime goal from customers need and safety to profit maximization. In such cases, most of these food industries will barely be honest in disseminating information of ingredients of their food products. They give information that will be appealing to the consumer with the aim of maximizing sales, hence profit. Therefore, in search for authentic, honest and credible information regarding food safety, public members should gather information from accredited bodies such as Food and Drug Administration, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO) website and Department of Health and Nutrition in U.S. These bodies are entitled to giving credible information since they are non-profit organization. Therefore, some of the consideration necessary in determining credibility of information should include evaluating source is a business partner, how often is the information updated, availability of references, and compare with other sources before drawing conclusion. The issue of food safety should not be underestimated since it is a concern topic among public health officers. For instance, there were a total of 1,270 instances of foodborne disease outbreak in the year 2006 that saw 11 individuals succumb (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012).
In conclusion, food safety should be upheld with optimal interest if at all the world is expected to record minimal food poisoning cases. Food processing industries should stick to ingredients indicated both quantity and types. Moreover, consumers should ensure that their source of information regarding food safety is gathered from credible and authentic sources.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Surveillance for foodborne disease outbreaks: United States. MMWR. 58(22):609-615.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). Food safety. HealthyPeople.gov. Retrieved March 16, 2013 http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=14
