Food Safety: A Reference Handbook, 2nd Edition

by Nina E. Redman
May 2007

Is our food safe? Much of the corn, soybeans, and canola oil we eat has been genetically modified, but we don’t know the long-term effects of GM foods on our health and the environment. We also consume antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria through the meat we eat, and we face new threats like mad cow disease, avian flu, and bioterrorism.

Food Safety: A Reference Handbook, Second Edition provides a broad, readable, and level-headed overview of these and other food safety controversies. Through a combination of statistics and substantive information, it delineates the nature and scope of the issues. It also introduces readers to the researchers, activists, industries, and government agencies that play a role in the battle for food safety—an issue that impacts us all.

Includes a glossary of food safety terms to help readers negotiate complex concepts from the fields of chemistry, biology, nutrition, agriculture, and epidemiology
Provides a directory of organizations representing a wide range of viewpoints—activist, industry, and government—showing readers where to turn for more information
Explores how changing dietary practices as well as farming and processing techniques challenge food safety, and how individuals, governments, and industry are responding
Covers new food safety threats including bioterrorism, avian flu, mercury poisoning, and acrylamides, as well as pesticides, genetically modified foods, and irradiation
Examines ten of the most common causes of food-borne illness, noting symptoms, health consequences, numbers of people affected, and mechanism of disease transfer