wHaT Is FOOD SaFeTy ? ? ?

Food Safety varies in terms of its purposes, and probably from different perspectives – farming, food production and distribution, food retail and catering and sometimes it is also the consumers.

Amy parts of this food supply system has common similarities, such that in this developed era where people and government are of utmost concern with regards to the safeness of foods - rules and regulations and subsidiary governmental bodies are in place to ensure quality and safety of foods that is delivered to the consumer.
Example of governmental bodies locally is the AVA or Agri-food and Veterinary Authority - one of the main organisations that ensure safety of foods sold and distributed in Singapore. International bodies could be the United Stated Department of Agriculture, the World Health Organisation (WHO).

All food businesses today operate in complex technical and commercial environment and, if they are to survive, each food business must possess the skills and knowledge required to remain ahead of competitors. Therefore many companies have also put-in place certain safety standard commonly practiced in the food industry – the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, ISO 22000:2005, Good Manufacturing Practices and pre-requisite programmes. These aims to maintain high quality food to the consumers

HACCP as described by Sara M. is a systematic approach to food safety management based on recognised principles which aim to identify the hazards that are likely to occur at any stages in the food supply chain and put into place controls that will prevent them from happening.

Consumers too play a part in food safety – Government authorities can exert regulatory control over the quality and safety of food produced or imported. However, such control is not possible when food is processed and prepared at home. As a consumer, you have direct control over the safety of the food you prepare for yourself and your family, therefore there is a need to adopt safe food handling and preparation practices, you can protect both yourself and your family. (AVA, 2006)

In conclusion food safety, includes safety management programmes, self-initiative from consumers, stringency of governmental bodies and in many cases the present and future of food safety will be in the ability to combine much of the many food safety management system like the HACCP and the GMP such as the new ISO22000:2005 launched in the year 2005. The improvement in technology in the near future will also provide even safer and stricter ways to quality control and assurance of food products.

References
Sara M. and Carol W.(2001) Food Industry Briefing Series HACCP. Blackwell Publishing.

About AVA. April 4, 2007. Retrieved from www.ava.gov.sg