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Advances in Food Safety (Technical Insights)
Frost & Sullivan, June 2006
This Frost & Sullivan research service titled Advances in Food Safety provides an overview of emerging products and technologies for the food safety industry, along with key drivers, restraints, and analysis of trends witnessed in this domain. In this study, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the following product areas: sensors, culture media, food processing, and food packaging techniques.
Technologies
The following technologies are covered in this research:
- Sensor technology
- Food processing
- Food packaging
- Genetic modification
- Rapid assays
Technology Overview
Presence of Food and Drug Administration to Monitor Food Safety
Food contamination refers to the presence of one or more contaminants in food. Contaminants can either be biological agents (micro organisms), chemical agents (pesticides and other chemicals), or other foreign objects, which have the ability to affect the safety and integrity of food products and thereby adversely affect health. The ingestion of contaminated food causes food poisoning or a food borne illness. Contamination can also occur due to improper food preparation, handling, and storage practices, according to the analyst of the study. It is therefore essential to maintain good hygiene practices prior to, after, and during the preparation of food to eliminate or at least reduce the chances of contracting an illness.
Food safety is the process of monitoring food to ascertain that it is devoid of contamination. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was founded almost a hundred years ago as a consumer protection agency with a food safety issue. This food safety issue was pertaining to the use of chemical additives in food products, which was considered to be a danger to public health. AS refrigeration technology was still in its infancy, chemical additives in food doubled as preservatives. Experiments conducted on additives such as formaldehyde and borax confirmed that the concerns were well founded and this eventually resulted in the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
Various Food Processing and Preservation Technologies Heighten Food Safety
Present day consumers eat a wide variety of food products especially fruits, seafood, and meat products, which although good for health, offer several food safety challenges. Additionally, they demand year-round supply of these products, thereby increasing the hurdles faced during handling, transportation, and storage of these products. People eat out more frequently and food is purchased from restaurants and grocery stores and consumed even in hospitals, day care centers, and nursing homes.
As a result, numerous food workers are involved in the process of preparing food, thereby increasing the chances of contamination, explains the analyst. This necessitates implementing safety measures in order to minimize the issues pertaining to food contamination. The presence of food processing and preservation technologies such as radio frequency (RF) heating, microwave processing, ohmic and inducive heating, infrared heating, osmotic treatment, and food irradiation among others is likely to increase confidence in processed foods.
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