Quality and Safety Management Systems in the Production of Vegetables

Abstract

According to the definition of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs” (1996). Food security not only implies the offer but also the availability of safe foods, taking innocuousness as the intrinsic attribute of a product to be considered suitable for human consumption. Safe food must be free of physical hazards (bones, stones, metal fragments, or any foreign matter), chemical hazards (veterinary drugs, pesticides, toxins from microorganisms, cleaning and disinfection agents), and biological hazards (microorganism pathogens) for the consumer.