Food safety

Sécurité sanitaire is a recent term for food safety, the use of which was established in France by the law of July 1 ^er 1998, which set up the Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des aliments. More recently, Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of January 28, 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law specified food safety requirements in the following terms (Article 14):

" 1. No food shall be placed on the market if it is unsafe.

2. A foodstuff is said to be hazardous if it is considered to be :

a) harmful to health ;

b) unfit for human consumption.

3. To determine whether a foodstuff is hazardous, the following factors are taken into account:

a) the conditions of normal use of the foodstuff by the consumer at each stage of production, processing and distribution;

b) information provided to the consumer (...) concerning the prevention of adverse health effects specific to a particular foodstuff or to a particular category of foodstuffs.

4. To determine whether a foodstuff is injurious to health, account is taken of :

a) the probable immediate and/or short-term and/or long-term effect of this foodstuff on the health not only of a person consuming it, but also on his descendants;

b) probable cumulative toxic effects ;

c) the particular health sensitivities of a category of consumers when the food is intended for them.

5. In determining whether a foodstuff is unfit for human consumption, account shall be taken of whether the foodstuff is unacceptable for human consumption in view of its intended use, for reasons of contamination, whether external or otherwise, or through putrefaction, deterioration or decomposition."

The field of food safety is now well defined. In this article, we propose that all the knowledge, procedures and actions required to assess and control the risks to human health arising from the properties of foodstuffs and from their preparation and processing should be considered as food safety, throughout the food chain, from the production of raw materials to the consumption of foodstuffs.