Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
WHO has recognized that food safety problems in this region are having a neg-
ative impact on the economy regarding exporting product. Some of the problems
they have identified are the production of substandard products, shipment of spoiled
product, improperly labeled products, products containing harmful levels of preser-
vatives, and poor packaging of product. Because of the lack of food in this region,
there is also a concern about importing food of low quality to meet the nutritional
demands of the people.
Generally, there is a lack of any food law governing the safe production and dis-
tribution of food in this region. Regulatory issues are focused on simply providing
food and not on necessarily providing safe food. Much progress needs to be made in
this region to implement food laws and to provide safe and wholesome food to the
vulnerable population.
e
u r o P e a n
r
e g i of in
In the European Union, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) (also known as
“mad cow disease”) has been a key food safety issue in recent years.
Salmonella
as
well as
Campylobacter
are significant causes of food-borne illnesses in the European
Union, with many outbreaks linked to poultry products (WHO, 2002b). Despite hav-
ing well-organized regulatory agencies and oversight of processing in developed
countries, food safety problems still occur.
The European Union consists of 25 European nations that approach food safety
issues in an integrated fashion. The European Union has faced many challenges and
has recently revised food laws and in general implements “cutting edge” food safety
programs to control problems faced there. Despite these efforts, WHO reports that
the numbers of food-borne illnesses in this region are on the rise. This increase
could potentially be due to improvements made to the surveillance programs in the
country and an increase in consumer awareness about food-borne illnesses and sub-
sequent reporting of illnesses.
Recent surveillance reported an increase in the number of cases of
Campylobacter
and
Salmonella,
which are still the number one cause of death from food-borne
illness, causing up to 75% of the outbreaks (WHO, 2003d). Other issues include
botulism, which is a problem in eastern Europe because of the prevalence of home-
prepared foods (CSPI, 2005).
Listeria monocytogenes
and
E. coli
O157:H7 are also
reported, but to a lesser extent than other pathogens. This may be due to the fact that
reporting of these particular pathogens is not mandatory in all countries.
Of primary concern in the European Union is BSE. So far, a total of 150 deaths
due to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) have been reported in the European Union
(European Commission, 2002). This is closely linked to exposure to BSE-infected
cattle. The European Union has responded to this problem by implementing control
measures as follows (European Commission, 2002):
•
Controls on animal feed, which includes banning the feeding of any mam-
malian meat and bone meal (MFM) to cattle, sheep, and goats
A total suspension on the use of processed animal protein for feed used for
•
animals destined for human consumption
