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Food safety and quality
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Our work on improving food safety and quality covers many dimensions. We are often called upon to provide guidance on specific issues or simply to provide our perspective on them. This web page provides you with access to some of the unpublished reviews, analyses, reports and presentations that we have prepared on a range topics.
Antimicrobial drugs play a critical role in the treatment of diseases of food producing animals and their use is essential for both animal and human health. The availability of antimicrobials has contributed to supporting the livelihoods of livestock owners and to economic development, particularly in the poorest countries. However, the misuse or inappropriate use of antimicrobials for treatment and prevention of diseases in food production animals is often associated with the potential risk of emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistant micro-organisms. In fact, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global public health concern and a food safety issue. The risk appears to be is particularly high in countries where national policies, and regulatory, surveillance and monitoring systems for AMR, and antimicrobial drug usage are weak or inadequate.
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What ractopamine is
Ractopamine is a synthetic substance that is used as a veterinary drug in animal feed to promote muscle growth in approved food animal species, namely pigs and cattle and, to a limited extent, heavy turkeys. There are other approved veterinary uses of ractopamine including use for inhibiting uterine contraction, particularly associated with premature labor in mares and cows and for broncodilation in horses. Ractopamine is not approved for use in humans for any medical purpose.
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As part of FAO’s Quality&Origin Programme, a methodological participatory approach has been developed to identify products of origin-linked quality to be used as levers for sustainable rural development, through the virtuous circle to which they could give rise. A related web tool is being provided in order to facilitate the identification of the link between a product and its geographical origin as well as the strengths/weaknesses of an origin-linked product entering to contribute to sustainable production and consumption.
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Summary Report of the 75th meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee for Food Additives (JECFA) - Now available. The meeting took place 8 - 17 November 2011, at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, and was devoted to the evaluation of the safety of residues of veterinary drugs in food.
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The 29th Session of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, Codex Alimentarius Commission held in Geneva, Switzerland, 3-7 July 2006, requested FAO and WHO to consider holding an FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on the health risks associated with methylmercury and dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in fish and the health benefits of fish consumption, based on a recommendation from the 38th session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC).
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The current crisis in Japan -- triggered by the powerful earthquake of 11 March and subsequent tsunami -- is a complex emergency where the United Nations system is responding as and where requested by the Government of Japan.
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Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacterium found in the digestive tract of animals and humans. Generally harmless, some E. coli are pathogenic and can contaminate food, water and the environment.
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Hepatitis A virus (HAV) and Norovirus (NoV) are an important cause of food borne disease. The semi processed food may not undergo treatment sufficient to inactivate this viruses, therefore, manufactures may consider enteric viruses as a hazard in developing their HACCP plans.
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The various climate-change-related phenomena - changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, ocean warming and acidification – are thought to present a number of direct and indirect challenges to food safety.
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Private food standards addressing food safety are playing an increasingly important role in determining market access in international trade.
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