Why is Food Safety Important?

Food safety describes all practices used to ensure food is kept safe at each stage of the food manufacturing chain, from harvesting, processing, storage, distribution, preparation, to consumption. From a household or consumer point of view, food safety means making sure food is handled, prepared, and stored properly to prevent foodborne illnesses. Food safety is crucial for maintaining and promoting the health of those who consume it.

Controlling food safety requires knowledge about what could endanger its integrity and stability. Food safety is negatively affected by a variety of food contamination along your food supply chain. Contamination of food products can be caused by biological, chemical, physical, and radiological hazards and can affect all key operations. Without a proper control program for food safety, issues such as foodborne illness and food-related injuries can occur.

Magnitude of Foodborne Illness.

The most current data as below:

• 48 million cases of foodborne illness

• 128.000 hospitalizations from foodborne illness

• 3.000 deaths from foodborne illness

Cost of Foodborne Illness.

Financial losses are experienced by restaurants that lose business when a foodborne illness at their establishment is reported in the local media. When people lose confidence in a food service establishment, they will take their business elsewhere. The restaurant may have to pay for lawyers to represent them if a lawsuit is filed and they may have to pay damages to harmed customers. This increases their insurance costs. In addition, there may be costs associated with employee absences and retraining. The losses can be substantial and have resulted in bankruptcy and closed restaurants. The embarrassment of a food service establishment serving unsafe food can be lasting.

Foodborne Illness on a Personal Scale. Foodborne illness can have devastating effects. Foodborne illness can be mild, serious, fatal, or result in lifetime health complications.