Food safety system

A trend towards convenient foods and the lengthening of food supply chain in the period after the Second World War coincide with the increase of foodborne illness outbreaks. Government regulators and consumer groups demand for safer food has meant that the food industry in the 1950s and 1960s intensified their efforts to assure food safety.

A system that ensures our food is safe and poses no danger to human health can only work when responsibilities and tasks are clearly assigned – this includes farmers in grain fields as well as scientists in food laboratories. The costs and nature of food safety investment will be influenced by the growing recognition that a farm to table approach is necessary to address food safety.

Implementing a food safety system has become a ticket for accessing global agri-food supply chain. Customer and regulatory requirements are the main drivers for certification/ compliance.

Because many hazards can enter the food chain at different points and it is costly to test for their presence a preventative approach that controls processes is the preferred method for improving safety.

Sometimes characterized as a Hazard Analysis Critical Point (HACCP) system, thus approach is increasingly used as the basis for food safety regulation and for private certification of food safety. Once the process steps have been identified along with the possible hazards involved, it is necessary to find ways of preventing or controlling these hazards. For example, the hazard may be ‘spread of harmful bacteria from raw to cooked food’, one control measure to prevent this would be ‘careful handling practices, keeping raw and cooked food apart during all process steps’.
Food safety system