A global perspective of foodborne disease

Abstract

To be informed about foodborne diseases is a basic requirement for the production of safe food. Establishing the patterns of disease facilitates policy decisions, provides a basis for legislative action and the development of intervention strategies, and helps to set priorities in relation to research investments. The information on foodborne diseases made available indicates that foodborne disease is increasing worldwide and that new and emerging problems get through current safety procedures. Reasons for this include the increasing globalization of food production and trade, the application of new process technologies, changing eating habits, and increasing human migration. However, additional and more adequate information is needed for a rapid recognition of new and emerging foodborne diseases. Information is also deemed necessary for a risk analysis approach to safe food production. This applies especially to identifying hazards and gaining information about dose-response relationships. There are several ways to obtain such information: (i) a more extended analysis of reported food-associated incidents of disease, including gaining information about the dose-response relationship, (ii) application of sentinel and population studies for specific pathogenic agents, (iii) case-control studies to identify and quantify risk factors, and (iv) calculation of human exposure and translating the exposure by dose-response relationship into disease. To protect the consumer, both food producers and governments have their responsibilities in actively collecting the necessary information about foodborne disease and where necessary actively making use of risk communication.