OBJECTIVE: To compare consumer food-handling behaviors with the Fight BAC! consumer food-safety recommendations. DESIGN: Subjects were videotaped in their home while preparing a meal. Videotapes were coded according to Fight BAC! recommendations. A food-safety survey was administered and temperature data was collected. SUBJECTS/SETTING: A market research company randomly recruited subjects ...

How do food scandals like dioxines in food in Belgium (summer 1999) and the detection of mad cow disease (BSE) in Britain affect consumers' confidence in food safety? In this paper, based on three thousand telephone interviews during the last quarter of 1999, consumers in Belgium and Britain are compared ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate current food-handling practices, food safety prerequisite programs, and employee knowledge and food safety attitudes and provide baseline data for implementing Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems in school foodservice. DESIGN: One member of the research team visited each school to observe food-handling practices and assess ...

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a system of food safety management that in the last few decades has become an increasing part of national government and international strategy to reduce the prevalence of food borne disease. Yet despite wide dissemination and scientific support of its principles, successful HACCP ...

The potential for competitive inhibition to limit the growth of microbial pathogens in food raises questions about the external validity of typical predictive microbiology studies and suggests the need to consider microbial community dynamics in food safety risk assessment. Ecological theory indicates, however, that community dynamics are highly complex and ...

The objectives of this study were to evaluate economic techniques used to determine the cost and benefit of Listeria monocytogenes control and to estimate the economic optimum of L. monocytogenes food safety measures. The level of food safety measures is optimal if marginal benefit and marginal cost equate. Estimates of ...

Due to regular challenges of food safety, consumers put high demands on the performance of food quality systems. To deal with these requirements, food manufacturers need effective quality management. Performance of food quality systems can be partly realized by quality assurance systems, such as HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control ...

The topic of food safety in the U.S. frequently is the lead story in the news media and continues to be an important issue for biological scientists of all disciplines. The emotional and sensational aspects of food safety often cloud the facts as reported by journalists. Because we increasingly depend ...

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is a preventive method of ensuring food safety. Its objectives are the identification of consumer safety hazards that can occur in the production line and the establishment of a control process to guarantee a safer product for the consumer; it is ...

The present study was performed in order to obtain reliable and applicable techniques of viral detection in shellfish for use in ensuring food safety. This research was developed in two steps: (a) different techniques to recover viruses from artificially contaminated shellfish were tested and (b) the best technique was applied ...

OBJECTIVE: To analyse work related homicides among various defined populations of seafarers and fishermen during the period 1976-2002, to compare homicide rates with other occupations and general populations, and to discuss implications for maritime health and safety. METHODS: A longitudinal study of work related homicides, based on official mortality files, ...

National governments carry major responsibilities with regard to food security. In China, most families are now able to obtain enough food either by producing their own or by being able to purchase food in the marketplace. The government has been turning more of its attention to issues of food quality ...

A national telephone survey of a representative sample of 1200 Australian adults was conducted in March 2002 in order to identify the factors of greatest concern to consumers in relation to the safety and quality of food, to measure recent trends in views about hazards in the food supply, to ...

Foodborne illness represents a serious health hazard in the United States. Since foodborne illness can often be prevented by an individual's behavior, messages aimed at promoting safe food-handling behaviors should be a major tool to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness. This article argues that to achieve adoption of safe ...

The demand for organic foods is constantly increasing mainly due to consumers' perception that they are healthier and safer than conventional foods. There is a need for information related to food safety to inform consumers of the health benefits and/or hazards of food products of both origins, in order to ...

Oral phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors have emerged as the preferred first-line treatment for erectile dysfunction worldwide because of patient convenience, efficacy, and safety. Clinical trials have shown that tadalafil significantly enhances erectile function across a wide range of etiologies and provides a prolonged period of effectiveness independent of food or alcohol. In ...

There is a growing interest by both consumers and industry for the development of food products with 'functional' properties, or health benefits. These products may take the form of dietary supplements or of foods. The health benefits are given by particular ingredients, and in many cases these are derived from ...

Indicator organisms have been used for nearly a century to assess the microbiological status of water and foods. Beginning with their use in water sanitation programs, their applications have been extended over the years to other products, and they have become important components of the microbiological testing programs of both ...

The ease of opening up a small food business in the UK, combined with training regulations for food handlers, together with the requirement to demonstrate food safety management systems may be an indication that managers need management training in addition to food hygiene training. Enforcement agencies, examination bodies and trainers ...

As our scientific technology grows, risk assessment methods become more complex and, therefore, open to greater scientific debate. Risk assessment has always been a part of the regulatory notification and approval process for foods. However, the methodologies applied to risk assessment and decision-making have become diverse, dependent on a number ...

The pre-market safety assessment of foods derived through biotechnology provides a scientific basis for concluding reasonable certainty of no harm and ensuring safety. At a minimum, the outcome of such an assessment provides sufficient information to estimate the likelihood of adverse effects on consumers, generally precluding the need for post-market ...

To be effective in reducing the incidence of foodborne illness, consumers and food safety educators need information about behaviors that will decrease exposure to foodborne pathogens. A four-round Delphi technique was used to survey nationally recognized experts in food microbiology, epidemiology, food safety education, and food safety policy with the ...

In 2001, the first Germany comprehensive cross-sectional study into the sensitivity to antimicrobial substances of selected pathogenic bacteria from food-producing animal species (dairy cows, fattening pigs) was conducted by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety, BVL (formerly, Federal Institute for Health Protection of Consumers and Veterinary Medicine, ...

During the last 6 y, the European Union has undergone a profound qualitative change in the focus on food safety problems. In 1997, nine new scientific committees were created, including the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) and the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), and were put under the auspices of the ...

OBJECTIVES: Unsanitary food handling is a major public health hazard. There are over 4,100 mobile food vendors operating in New York City, and of these, approximately forty percent are processing vendors--mobile food units on which potentially hazardous food products are handled, prepared, or processed. This pilot study assesses the food ...

It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that the public has the right to a safe food and water supply. The Association supports collaboration among dietetics professionals, academics, representatives of the agriculture and food industries, and appropriate government agencies to ensure the safety of the food and water ...

The annual incidence of illness related to food consumption continues to present a challenge to environmental health management. A significant fraction of cases have been attributed to consumption of food in restaurants, and as the number of meals eaten away from the home continues to rise, the potential for large-scale ...

Over the past decade there has been a growing recognition of the involvement of the home in several public health and hygiene issues. Perhaps the best understood of these issues is the role of the home in the transmission and acquisition of foodborne disease. The incidence of foodborne disease is ...

Post-market surveillance (PMS) is increasingly required by some regulatory authorities for the marketing approval of GM-Novel Foods. This requirement, in addition to a complete conventional safety assessment, aims to show that unexpected (adverse) effects do not occur after long-term everyday exposure. Large food manufacturers have systems to obtain feedback from ...

The most important part of a medicine as far as its weight is concerned, is constituted by its excipients, which have the important functions of guaranteeing the dosage, stability and bioavailability of the active principle. The components employed as excipients must present the characteristics required by their technological function but, ...

Home interviews of 110 randomly selected householders representing three distinct socio-economic groups in North Central St Andrew, an urban community in Jamaica, were conducted during January-March 1999. Respondents were interviewed about their awareness of safe food handling, risk perception, food handling practices and attitude to food safety issues. The majority ...

Various safety assurance measures are implemented in Switzerland throughout the food production chain to prevent foods of animal origin from being contaminated with Salmonella. The data that are generated from the implementation of these measures are dispersed and heterogeneous. This hinders a general overview and makes a comprehensive national evaluation ...

The International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) has recently proposed a scheme for the management of microbial hazards for foods that involves the concept of food safety objectives (FSOs). FSOs are intended to specify the maximum levels of hazardous agents required to meet a given public health goal. ...

An exposure assessment is conducted for psychrotrophic and mesophilic Bacillus cereus in a cooked chilled vegetable product. A model is constructed that covers the retail and consumer phase of the food pathway, using the output of a similar model on the industrial process as input. Microbial growth is the predominant ...

Often the main criticism of foods derived from biotechnology is concerns about food safety. Whereas most present-day biotechnology-derived foods are approximately 99% similar to their non-biotechnology counterparts, the scientific community must ensure the safety of the novel aspects of these foods. The three phases of safety assessment are discussed and ...

Antimicrobial resistance is an issue of increasing global concern. Several investigators have suggested that antibiotic use in food-producing animals is a major contributor to the increasing incidence of antimicrobial-resistant organisms causing illness in humans (F. J. Angulo, K. R. Johnson, R. V. Tauxe, and M. L. Cohen, Microb. Drug Res. ...

Several strategies have been developed to identify unintended alterations in the composition of genetically modified (GM) food crops that may occur as a result of the genetic modification process. These include comparative chemical analysis of single compounds in GM food crops and their conventional non-GM counterparts, and profiling methods such ...

Plant-based complementary foods are the main source of nutrients for many young children in developing countries. They may, however, present problems in providing nutritionally adequate and safe diets for older infants and young children. The high starch content leads to low-nutrient diets that are bulky and dense, with high levels ...

The glycoalkaloid content of transgenic potatoes was evaluated by an optimised method based on non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis coupled on-line with electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (NACE-ESI-MS). The potato material consisted of tubers from a conventional cv. Désirée and from three lines of modified plants resistant, intermediate and susceptible to infection by potato ...

Epidemiological data from Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand indicate that a substantial proportion of foodborne disease is attributable to improper food preparation practices in consumers' homes. International concern about consumer food safety has prompted considerable research to evaluate domestic food-handling practices. The majority of consumer food safety studies ...

One of the most important tasks faced by highway agencies is identifying road hazards. Agencies use crash statistics to detect road intersections and segments where the frequency of crashes is excessive. With the crash-based method, a dangerous intersection or segment can be pointed out only after a sufficient number of ...

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA)* registers veterinary antibiotic products before they can be supplied, distributed or sold in Australia. Extensive scientific assessment on all new veterinary antibiotic products is undertaken for the APVMA by experts in other government agencies including the Therapeutic Goods Administration (toxicology), the National ...

Concerns about food safety have played a key role in the emergence of the public health system in the United States. Unfortunately, the food safety regulatory system that was established in the early part of the 20th century in response to these concerns has not kept pace with our advancing ...

A variety of slipmeters have been used to assess the slipperiness of floor surfaces. International standards for the operation of slipmeters describe the protocol for a single measurement. These standards usually do not cover some of the critical elements in safety assessment such as methods for the selection of measurement ...

Microorganisms have successfully adapted to changes in food production, processing, and preservation techniques, resulting in a number of new and emerging foodborne pathogens and the re-emergence of organisms that have been problematic in the past. To protect public health, science must meet the challenges that result from the remarkable adaptability ...

The concept of phage therapy to treat bacterial infections was born with the discovery of the bacteriophage almost a century ago. After a chequered history, its current renaissance is fueled by the dangerous appearance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on a global scale. As a mark of this renewed interest, the unanswered ...

While it is important that dietitians and other health or food professionals provide consistent messages to the public about food safety, it is equally important that the information be evidence-based. Conflicting recommendations are evident when reviewing consumer publications from food safety advisory groups and the scientific literature. In addition, caveats ...

Food safety policies are coming under increasing scrutiny. A challenging issue when devising food policies is to assess the 'intangible' benefits such as a reduction in suffering from food-related illness. Here, contingent valuation is used to elicit individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for the elimination of the risk of poultry-borne ...

Hazard Analysis by Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a systematic approach to the identification, assessment, and control of hazards in the food chain. Effective HACCP requires the consideration of all chemical microbiological, and physical hazards. However, current procedures focus primarily on microbiological and physical hazards, while chemical aspects of HACCP ...

The centralisation and globalisation of the world food supply presents opportunities for massive epidemics of food borne illness. Food processing generally decreases exposure to naturally occurring toxicants. A significant number of deaths are caused in both developed and developing countries from the consumption of naturally occurring toxicants and this exceeds ...