Food safety control strategies: a critical review of traditional approaches

The development of effective and efficient infrastructures for ensuring the production processing preparation and service of wholesome food is an indispensable element in the achievement of the goals of health for all. There is sufficient literature on microbiological hazards of food and the factors which influence their occurrence growth and multiplication in foods. Similarly risk of practices procedures and processes which often lead to outbreaks of food-borne diseases are known. Epidemiological evidence has shown that these factors are more or less the same in most countries of the world. But in spite of the availability of this wide range of information food-borne diseases continue to place a heavy strain on scarce economic resources in addition to causing significant morbidity and mortality in human populations. This calls for a profound rethink of the potential effectiveness and contribution of traditional approaches to food safety control and a more enthusiastic acceptance and implementation of modern strategies of proven effectiveness in both developed and developing countries.