Preface

This is not a textbook about how to establish, document, operate, maintain and continually improve a specific food safety system; rather, this is a book that handles various subjects that might help to maximise the understanding of elements that should be taken into con‐ sideration to ensure provision of a safe end product and ultimately food that is safe for hu‐ man consumption.

The challenge for food producers and distributors when deciding on a method to deal with media attention focused on contaminated food is discussed using concrete examples from some food industries. The roles and/or responsibilities of scientific and regulatory agencies, food safety systems and certification bodies that are in control of food safety crises within the food chain are also addressed.

The unique challenges to food safety legislation in some developing countries in Asia (India and Nepal), West Africa (Ghana and Nigeria) and East Africa are presented through case studies of food safety situations in those countries. This book also includes a review of the major innovative approaches/strategies that could accelerate implementation of food safety legislation and bring it to function more effectively in these parts of the world.

Biofilm formation, which protects bacteria from an adverse environment, has been known to represent a health risk, in addition to interfering with therapy against pathogenic bacteria in humans. The text addresses the discovery that a combination of traditional Chinese medi‐ cine and antibiotics could improve the antibacterial activity and remove bacterial biofilm effectively, discussing the active constituent of traditional Chinese medicines and the differ‐ ent effects of quorum sensing and quorum-sensing inhibition on Gram-positive and Gramnegative bacterium.

The book also takes a look at the morphological and biochemical characteristics, as well as possible measures, to guard against bacterial species that cause food poisoning in the context of a potential bioterrorist attack. Some examples of using foodborne pathogens as bioterrorist weapons, as well as several important advantages that make them attractive as possible bioter‐ rorist weapons to achieve high lethality, fear, panic and chaos in the community, are explained.

I hope that the information and concepts contained within this text can be adapted and put into practice based on the needs of the reader.

> **Prof. Dr. Yehia El-Samragy** Ain Shams University Faculty of Agriculture Food Science Department Cairo, Egypt

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Introductory Chapter: Food Safety Concepts**

**Introductory Chapter: Food Safety Concepts**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.79131

On a global scale, there has been a notable elevation in the extent of foodborne diseases, in addition to disturbances in the international food trade resulting from recurrent disputes with regards to food safety requirements. In order for improvements to be recognized in food safety systems, most of these systems need to be reviewed and further developed. It is especially crucial at the present time, for both developed and developing countries, to create and propagate food safety systems in accordance with the principals of risk-based thinking and risk assessment. Therefore, it is important to be equipped with important knowledge on the principles and practices of food safety systems and the trend that will take food processors away from a merely reactive approach to food safety procedures, to a more proactive one.

The responsibility of the control of food safety worldwide is shared between several different agencies and ministries of the same country. The roles and responsibilities of these bodies may be quite different but most of the time can be considered as a kind of duplication of the same regulatory activity where unnecessary routine inspection visits and a lack of coordination are common. Moreover, the expertise and resources of these different agencies are varied, which can create a conflict between the responsibilities for protecting public health and obligations

Provision of information for government agencies to assist in the development of national food control systems and to promote effective collaboration between all the different agencies

toward either facilitating trade or developing an industry or a sector.

**3. Development of national food safety system**

© 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.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. 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.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79131

**2. Responsibility of food safety**

Yehia El-Samragy

**1. Introduction**

Yehia El-Samragy

#### **Introductory Chapter: Food Safety Concepts Introductory Chapter: Food Safety Concepts**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.79131

#### Yehia El-Samragy Yehia El-Samragy

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79131
