Question

Safety of Food from Carcinogens

The Office of Food Additive Safety (OFAS) at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) of FDA is charged with, among other responsibilities, regulating industry to ensure that food contact substances and food additives are safe.

Using the Internet, research on major regulations related to food safety. On the basis of your research, answer the following questions:

What are the ten microbiological agents that are implicated in food-borne illness? What are the measures for preventing food-borne illness?

Describe practical methods for the prevention of food-borne illness and indicate how you apply them in your home or business.

What are the procedures that a local health department might use for investigating an outbreak of food-borne illness?

Explain a major regulation for protecting food from carcinogens and discuss its purpose. Do you think there should be any change in this regulation? Why or why not?

What is the intended impact of food safety–related law on your local community?

Answer 1

What are the ten microbiological agents that are implicated in food-borne illness?

Bacteria and Viruses such as Bacillus cereus, Botulism, Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens, E. coli, Hepatitis A, Listeria, Norovirus (Norwalk Virus), Salmonella, Shigella, Staphylococcus, Vibrio Infections.

What are the measures for preventing food-borne illness?

Washing utensils and disinfecting surfaces before and after everytime

Refrigerating and freezing the appropriate foods

washing hands with soapy and warm water when handling fruits, vegetables and meat products

Describe practical methods for the prevention of food-borne illness and indicate how you apply them in your home or business.

Clean- Hand washing and surface cleaning to be done more often

Seperate-Cross contamination to be avoided

Cook- Cooking should be done at proper temperatures

Chill- Refrigerate the appropriate food items promptly

What are the procedures that a local health department might use for investigating an outbreak of food-borne illness?

Public health surveillance

Epidemiological data- Reveals geographic distribution of illness

Traceback data- Reveals common point in contamination such as restaurants, farms, food production facilities where contamination occurs

Food and environmental testing data- disease causing agent found from sick individual home, location, environment etc