Page 332 - Biosystems Engineering

CHAPTER 10

Food Safety

Management

Enda Cummins
UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine
Agriculture and Food Science Centre
Belfield, Dublin, Ireland

10.1 Introduction
Food safety is the assurance that food will not cause harm to the
consumer when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended
use and generally refers to its chemical and microbiological content
(FAO/WHO 2001). Food safety management refers to the process of
ensuring and controlling food safety through regulation or other pol-
icy mechanisms for the health and well-being of consumers. Food
safety management is of prime importance in maintaining consumer
confidence and is critical for a healthy population and economy,
directly influencing consumer sentiment, national and international
trade, and tourism. Food safety is among the top 11 organizational
priorities identified by the World Health Organization (FAO/WHO
2001; Toyofuku 2006). A food contamination scare can have devastat-
ing economic consequences; for example, the bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) crisis is estimated to have cost the United
Kingdom 6 billion U.S. dollars (Burlingame and Pineiro 2007). Thus,
it is of prime importance for national and international regulatory
agencies to facilitate international trade in food and food products
while ensuring the protection of human health. Recent health scares,
including the BSE crisis, growth hormones in meat, dioxin, Sudan
Red, avian flu, and influenza A (H1N1) scares, have made consumers
more wary about the origin, traceability, and safety of the food they
eat. It has been reported that foodborne microbiological hazards may
be responsible for as many as 45.4 million cases of food poisoning within
the European Union (EU) every year (Cummins 2008). Food safety

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