**1. Introduction**

The diseases caused by food, or the foodborne diseases, are described as the illnesses with which people are infected by the foods they eat [1]. These diseases are a widespread public health issue and are expensive to treat [2]. Foodborne diseases result from the consumption of contaminated foods and products. Contamination of the food at any stage, from production to consumption, produces bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemical agents and toxins, which eventually cause the foodborne diseases [1].

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

These diseases are seen as a pervasive, permanent problem that can lead to morbidity and, occasionally, to mortality. Foodborne diseases are increasing worldwide, particularly in the developing countries, due to neglect of personal hygiene and food hygiene [3].

Foodborne illnesses pose a threat to international public health safety and economic develop‐ ment. With the increasing amount of trade, travel and immigration, the rate at which danger‐ ous contaminants and pathogens pass through the borders has also risen. Every year, approximately 2.2 million people, a majority of whom are children living in developing countries, die as a result of food and water contamination [1]. Typhoid fever occurs in 16.6 million people and causes 600,000 deaths every year around the world. In the United States, contaminated foods are seen as being responsible for nearly 76 million infections, 325,000 hospital cases and 5000 deaths every year [4]. According to 2011 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was estimated that in the United States, one out of every six persons was infected with foodborne illness (48 million people) and that foodborne illnesses resulted in 128,000 hospital cases and 3000 deaths [5].

In 2013, FoodNet, a CDC-established program that tracks foodborne illnesses in the United States, found that foodborne illnesses were responsible for 19,056 infections, 4,200 hospital cases and 80 deaths. The incidence of bacteria responsible for causing diseases in every 100.000 people was determined to be 15.19 for *Salmonella*, 13.82 for *Campylobacter*, 4.82 for *Shigella*, 2.48 for *Cryptosporidium,* 1.15 for *STEC non-O157*, 0.51 for *Vibrio*, 0.36 for *Yersinia*, 0.26 for *Listeria* and 0.03 for *Cyclospora*. Incidences of *Cyclospora*, *Listeria* and *Vibrio* were found to be the highest among the elderly, aged 65 years and older, whereas for all of the other pathogens, the highest incident rates were found among children younger than 5 years of age [6].

The diseases caused by *Salmonella* and *Campylobacter*, the main agents responsible for food‐ borne infections, are dramatically increasing in some countries, including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In 1999 and 2000, the number of reported foodborne disease cases was 84,340 and 77,515, respectively in Turkey. While *Salmonella* is the most frequently encountered disease agent, the actual figures on foodborne infections and toxins are not reflected, as it is not mandatory to report these diseases [7].

The world's growing population and the consumers' desire to be provided with a wider range of foods have resulted in a longer and more complex food chain. Today, foods reach consumers after being collected from fields, farms and factories and then pass onto many countries, traveling distances of thousands of kilometers. With this global food distribution, an infection that occurs at any point within the food chain has the potential of affecting any given popu‐ lation in the world. It is therefore essential, given the number of interactions taking place between the actors involved in the food chain and the long distances between them, that multisectorial and international collaboration take place. As no country can provide food safety on its own, safety measures need to be enhanced in many countries [8].

While experts on food safety and health have determined that millions of foodborne disease cases are reported every year, the actual numbers are clouded by uncertainty, as most cases go unreported. Furthermore, foodborne diseases are difficult to diagnose, since they have various symptoms, including fatigue, chills, mild fever, vertigo, upset stomach, dehydration caused by diarrhea, severe cramps and, in some cases, even death. In many of the reported cases, foods prepared outside of the home are the primary cause of foodborne diseases, though it is not uncommon for home-made foods to also cause diseases [9]. Studies conducted on the distribution of foodborne diseases across the world have demonstrated that a majority of these diseases occur during the processing of the food in the preparation stage at home or at food production sites [10]. In fact, most foodborne diseases can be prevented if the regulations governing food safety were complied with, from production stages to consumption [11].

Improper heating of the food, such as undercooking, re-heating and waiting in the heat, or improper cooling of the food account for 44% of the foodborne illnesses. Inadequate prepara‐ tion and improper cooking practices, such as those involving cross-contamination, insufficient processing, poor hygiene and the re-use of leftovers, are responsible for causing 14% of these diseases [7].

As indicated by these figures, foodborne diseases are widespread throughout the world. The process by which a foodborne disease spreads begins with the features of the disease contam‐ inating the food, which in turn threaten both individual and public health by means of the foods. Healthy, or what can be termed as safe, food is food that has not lost its nutritional value, that is clean, in physical, chemical and microbiological terms and that is not stale. The factors causing the contamination of the food may threaten the safe consumption of it and thereby make the foods harmful to human health. For this reason, it is necessary to utilize various resources to prevent the food from being contaminated at all stages of the food chain, from harvest to consumption [12].

This study conducts an analysis of the factors responsible for jeopardizing food safety and food safety policies throughout the world.
