Activities involved in ensuring the safety of FOOD including avoidance of bacterial and other contamination.

Examination of foods to assure wholesome and clean products free from unsafe microbes or chemical contamination, natural or added deleterious substances, and decomposition during production, processing, packaging, etc.

The presence in food of harmful, unpalatable, or otherwise objectionable foreign substances, e.g. chemicals, microorganisms or diluents, before, during, or after processing or storage.

Any aspect of the operations in the preparation, processing, transport, storage, packaging, wrapping, exposure for sale, service, or delivery of food.

Acute illnesses, usually affecting the GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT, brought on by consuming contaminated food or beverages. Most of these diseases are infectious, caused by a variety of bacteria, viruses, or parasites that can be foodborne. Sometimes the diseases are caused by harmful toxins from the microbes or other chemicals present in the food. Especially in the latter case, the condition is often called food poisoning.

Any substances taken in by the body that provide nourishment.

Freedom from exposure to danger and protection from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss. It suggests optimal precautions in the workplace, on the street, in the home, etc., and includes personal safety as well as the safety of property.

The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in food and food products. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms: the presence of various non-pathogenic bacteria and fungi in cheeses and wines, for example, is included in this concept.

Laws and regulations concerned with industrial processing and marketing of foods.

The production and movement of food items from point of origin to use or consumption.

Use of written, printed, or graphic materials upon or accompanying a food or its container or wrapper. The concept includes ingredients, NUTRITIONAL VALUE, directions, warnings, and other relevant information.

The industry concerned with processing, preparing, preserving, distributing, and serving of foods and beverages.

Drugs and their metabolites which are found in the edible tissues and milk of animals after their medication with specific drugs. This term can also apply to drugs found in adipose tissue of humans after drug treatment.

The productive enterprises concerned with food processing.

Food that is grown or manufactured in accordance with nationally regulated production standards that include restrictions on the use of pesticides, non-organic fertilizers, genetic engineering, growth hormones, irradiation, antibiotics, and non-organic ingredients.

Substances which are of little or no nutritive value, but are used in the processing or storage of foods or animal feed, especially in the developed countries; includes ANTIOXIDANTS; FOOD PRESERVATIVES; FOOD COLORING AGENTS; FLAVORING AGENTS; ANTI-INFECTIVE AGENTS (both plain and LOCAL); VEHICLES; EXCIPIENTS and other similarly used substances. Many of the same substances are PHARMACEUTIC AIDS when added to pharmaceuticals rather than to foods.

Measurement and evaluation of the components of substances to be taken as FOOD.

Food derived from genetically modified organisms (ORGANISMS, GENETICALLY MODIFIED).

Poisoning caused by ingestion of food harboring species of SALMONELLA. Conditions of raising, shipping, slaughtering, and marketing of domestic animals contribute to the spread of this bacterium in the food supply.

Functions, equipment, and facilities concerned with the preparation and distribution of ready-to-eat food.

The edible portions of any animal used for food including domestic mammals (the major ones being cattle, swine, and sheep) along with poultry, fish, shellfish, and game.

The selection of one food over another.

The development of systems to prevent accidents, injuries, and other adverse occurrences in an institutional setting. The concept includes prevention or reduction of adverse events or incidents involving employees, patients, or facilities. Examples include plans to reduce injuries from falls or plans for fire safety to promote a safe institutional environment.

A cabinet department in the Executive Branch of the United States Government concerned with improving and maintaining farm income and developing and expanding markets for agricultural products. Through inspection and grading services it safeguards and insures standards of quality in food supply and production.

Efforts to reduce risk, to address and reduce incidents and accidents that may negatively impact healthcare consumers.

The application of knowledge to the food industry.

The presence of parasites in food and food products. For the presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in food, FOOD MICROBIOLOGY is available.

Food products manufactured from poultry.

Articles of food which are derived by a process of manufacture from any portion of carcasses of any animal used for food (e.g., head cheese, sausage, scrapple).

An agency of the PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to maintaining standards of quality of foods, drugs, therapeutic devices, etc.

Administrative units of government responsible for policy making and management of governmental activities.

The art or practice of preparing food. It includes the preparation of special foods for diets in various diseases.

The act of cleansing the hands with water or other liquid, with or without the inclusion of soap or other detergent, for the purpose of destroying infectious microorganisms.

Guidelines and objectives pertaining to food supply and nutrition including recommendations for healthy diet.

Acquired or learned food preferences.

The science dealing with the establishment and maintenance of health in the individual and the group. It includes the conditions and practices conducive to health. (Webster, 3d ed)

Procedures or techniques used to keep food from spoiling.

Animal reproductive bodies, or the contents thereof, used as food. The concept is differentiated from OVUM, the anatomic or physiologic entity.

Branch of medicine concerned with the prevention and control of disease and disability, and the promotion of physical and mental health of the population on the international, national, state, or municipal level.

Gastrointestinal disturbances, skin eruptions, or shock due to allergic reactions to allergens in food.

Mobilization of human, financial, capital, physical and or natural resources to generate goods and services.

A non-medical term defined by the lay public as a food that has little or no preservatives, which has not undergone major processing, enrichment or refinement and which may be grown without pesticides. (from Segen, The Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)

A genus of gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria that utilizes citrate as a sole carbon source. It is pathogenic for humans, causing enteric fevers, gastroenteritis, and bacteremia. Food poisoning is the most common clinical manifestation. Organisms within this genus are separated on the basis of antigenic characteristics, sugar fermentation patterns, and bacteriophage susceptibility.

The area of medicine concerned with the effects on health and disease due to geographic factors such as CLIMATE, environmental conditions, and geographic location.

Domesticated birds raised for food. It typically includes CHICKENS; TURKEYS, DUCKS; GEESE; and others.

The interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale, between different countries or between populations within the same country. It includes trade (the buying, selling, or exchanging of commodities, whether wholesale or retail) and business (the purchase and sale of goods to make a profit). (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed, p411, p2005 & p283)

Prepared food that is ready to eat or partially prepared food that has a final preparation time of a few minutes or less.

The science, art or practice of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock.

Sudden increase in the incidence of a disease. The concept includes EPIDEMICS and PANDEMICS.

The withholding of food in a structured experimental situation.

Agents useful in the treatment or prevention of COCCIDIOSIS in man or animals.

Any food that has been supplemented with essential nutrients either in quantities that are greater than those present normally, or which are not present in the food normally. Fortified food includes also food to which various nutrients have been added to compensate for those removed by refinement or processing. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)

The process of minimizing risk to an organization by developing systems to identify and analyze potential hazards to prevent accidents, injuries, and other adverse occurrences, and by attempting to handle events and incidents which do occur in such a manner that their effect and cost are minimized. Effective risk management has its greatest benefits in application to insurance in order to avert or minimize financial liability. (From Slee & Slee: Health care terms, 2d ed)

Regular course of eating and drinking adopted by a person or animal.

An indication of the contribution of a food to the nutrient content of the diet. This value depends on the quantity of a food which is digested and absorbed and the amounts of the essential nutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals, vitamins) which it contains. This value can be affected by soil and growing conditions, handling and storage, and processing.

The sequence of transfers of matter and energy from organism to organism in the form of FOOD. Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant. PLANTS, which convert SOLAR ENERGY to food by PHOTOSYNTHESIS, are the primary food source. In a predator chain, a plant-eating animal is eaten by a larger animal. In a parasite chain, a smaller organism consumes part of a larger host and may itself be parasitized by smaller organisms. In a saprophytic chain, microorganisms live on dead organic matter.

The interrelationship of psychology and religion.

Places where animals are slaughtered and dressed for market.

A verocytotoxin-producing serogroup belonging to the O subfamily of Escherichia coli which has been shown to cause severe food-borne disease. A strain from this serogroup, serotype H7, which produces SHIGA TOXINS, has been linked to human disease outbreaks resulting from contamination of foods by E. coli O157 from bovine origin.

The branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of the beautiful. It includes beauty, esthetic experience, esthetic judgment, esthetic aspects of medicine, etc.

Any of the various plants of the genus Lactuca, especially L. sativa, cultivated for its edible leaves. (From American Heritage Dictionary, 2d ed)

Diseases of non-human animals that may be transmitted to HUMANS or may be transmitted from humans to non-human animals.

Food that has been prepared and stored in a way to prevent spoilage.

Freedom of equipment from actual or potential hazards.

The collective designation of three organizations with common membership: the European Economic Community (Common Market), the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). It was known as the European Community until 1994. It is primarily an economic union with the principal objectives of free movement of goods, capital, and labor. Professional services, social, medical and paramedical, are subsumed under labor. The constituent countries are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997, p842)

Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).

Behavioral responses or sequences associated with eating including modes of feeding, rhythmic patterns of eating, and time intervals.

The consumption of edible substances.