The term ""food safety"" is understood by reference to those hazards that may make food injurious to the health of a consumer. There is universal agreement on the need for safe food. ""Food Quality"" refers to all the attributes that influence the value of a product to the consumer. Quality includes positive attributes such as origin, colour, texture, processing method for food, etc., as well as negative attributes such as adulteration, fraud, spoilage or contamination Conceptually, food safety is a sub-part and a sine-qua-non element of food quality. However, in practice, food safety and the other aspects of food quality are often considered separately. The distinction between safety and quality has implications for public policy and influences the nature and...

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is convened by FAO and WHO under their respective terms of reference for Expert Committees. This document describes the procedures used by FAO in its evaluation of veterinary drug residues in food; a separate document describes the procedures used by WHO*. While common procedures are used in most instances, separate guidelines for the two organizations have been prepared because they have differing rules and regulations for expert committees and because the expertise required and the work done by experts invited by the two organizations is different. JECFA is convened according to Article VI of the Constitution of FAO (the text is available at www.fao.org/legal under "Basic Texts"): the Director-General on the...

This edition of the guidelines* for the preparation of monographs and summaries for residues of veterinary drugs replaces the guidelines issued in 1998 for the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). They are intended primarily for drafting experts who prepare draft monographs for JECFA and for those Members who have been assigned to peer review them. The guidelines are also useful to sponsors who intend to prepare summaries of the data that they provide.