Food Safety in Three Dimensions: Safety, Diet Quality, and Bio-Security

Food safety in three dimensions refers to the matrix of issues and activities that lead to safe food consumption in today’s world. Starting with the first principle that food should nourish the body and not cause illness, debilitation, or death, a broader concept, “safe food consumption,” is called for. Food safety typically refers to food that is free from harmful, but naturally occurring microbiological contamination. Safe food consumption includes: 1. safety from known (chemical or biological) substances that lead to known (or unknown) illness or death (botulism, pesticides, cholera) 2. safety from long-term chronic diseases related to quality of diets (diabetes, heart disease) 3. safety from deliberate contamination anywhere along the supply chain of an otherwise safe food supply (bio or chemical terrorism) Since violating any one of these three safety mandates leads to unsafe food consumption, it takes all three to bring safety, quality, and security to the food system. It takes the cooperation of all parties in the food chain (farmers, manufacturers, retailers, consumers, and all their service providers and regulators) to deliver the safe consumption of food. When food harms people, it is everybody’s problem. The immediate victims become ill or die, other consumers’ health care costs rise, employers lose employees, and the profitability of the supply chain that handled and sold the food is diminished.