About Food Safety

Food safety describes handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. Food safety is defined as the assurance that the food will not cause harm to the consumer when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended use. It includes the origins of food practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues. Food safety is a type of food preservation through which physical and /or chemical agents are used to prevent microbial spoilage of food. Food preservation is used to prolong storage life of food. In food preservation, efforts are made to destroy organisms in the food. It increases the period taken by microorganism to adapt to the food environment before they start to spoil the food. Generally there are two types of food preservation principles: Inhibition principle and killing principle. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point is to monitor and control production processes. It is done by introducing benign bacteria and fungi to the food in order to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi. Preservation can also be done by retarding the oxidation of fats that cause rancidity.