FOOD SAFETY FACTORS AFFECTING PRODUCTION

Question 1

What are the main FOOD SAFETY factors?

Answer 1

• Food scares & Crises
• EU Safety policy
• Biotechnology
• Food sensitivity

Question 2

What are the main facts to be known about FOOD SAFETY?

Answer 2

• It’s always important
• Food safety is better today than its ever been
• All food scares affect consumers
• EU LEGISLATION is applied throughout entire food chain to protect EU consumers

Question 3

What are the most prominent FOOD SCARES & CROSSES?

Answer 3

• BSE in 1996 & FOOT/MOUTH in 2001 affect UK meat industry heavily
• Naturally the public fears the unknown but it is not the biggest problem for the UK

Question 4

What do EU FOOD SAFETY POLICIES protect?

Answer 4

• The health of people
• Welfare of animals
• It also allows the free moving of FOOD/ ANIMALS/ FOOD in & out of EU
• Expects food businesses to keep proper records of their HACCP plans

Question 5

What about the TRACEABILITY of FOOD?

Answer 5

= CLEAR LABELLING/ BAR CODES/ BATCH NOs
Any:
- Food
- Animal feed
- Animal
- Substance used for Human or animal consumption can be tracked at any stage of PROCESS/ DISTRIBUTION
= IT MEANS FOOD INDUSTRY & FSA CAN RECALL ANYTHING AT ANYTIME

Question 6

What is BIOTECHNOLOGY?

Answer 6

= Includes process of GENETIC MODIFICATION of food

Question 7

What is GENETIC MODIFICATION?

Answer 7

= Genetics are changed or a gene is transformed from another organism

• Products with GM more than 0.9% MUST BE LABELLED
• Only a small number of GM foods are allowed in UK

Question 8

What are the CONCERNS surrounding GENETIC MODIFICATION?

Answer 8

• Environmental aspects of GM
• Impact on WILDLIFE
• 70% of Europeans dont like GM

Question 9

What are GM foods used for?

Answer 9

GM CROPS =
- Greater yields 
- Less chemical pesticides
- Resistant to climate change 
NORMAL POTATOES = 
- Sprayed with FUNGICIDES 15 times a season 
- GM potatoes dont need that 
NEARLY 90% OF CHEESE FORM EU =
- Uses a GM enzyme instead of RENNET but still remains GM FREE

Question 10

What is FOOD SENSITIVITY?

Answer 10

• Food ALLERGIES & INTOLERANCES = Reaction by immune system to a particular food
• Can be life threatening

Question 11

What do EU LAWS require on packaging?

Answer 11

= To identify the allergens in the product out of the list of 14:

• Peanuts
• Nuts
• Sesame seeds
• Soya
• Lupin
• Celery
• Mustard
• Molluscs
• Fish
• Shellfish
• Cereals with GLUTEN
• Sulphites & Sulfur dioxide above 10mg

Question 12

What should be labelling if a product is manufactured on the SAME SITE AS ONE OF THE ALLERGENS?

Answer 12

• Do not have to mention in

- ‘MAY CONTAIN’ has become popular