Microbial Hazards in Foods: Food-Borne Infections and Intoxications 499tion strategies and preservation methods. The
food industry uses this basic knowledge
and applies it to good manufacturing prac-
tices to produce wholesome, nutritious, and
safe foods by utilizing modern equipment,
systems, processing techniques, and distribu-
tion systems. Government agents are charged
with the responsibility of monitoring the
safety of food supplies and enforcing regula-
tions to ensure the production, distribution,
and sale of wholesome foods. The consumer
must also be educated in the handling of raw
and cooked food at the point of purchase, as
well as preparation of the food and fi nal con-
sumption. All parties are responsible for the
food safety of all involved.
The delightful book Safe Eating by
Acheson and Levinson (1998) detailed the
problems involved in food safety and offered
solutions to protect consumers in laymen ’ s
terms that nevertheless provide much scien-
tifi c information about the entire issue of
food safety and consumer protection. It is a
book worth reading and studying by consum-
ers concerned about food safety.
The book Food Microbiology: Fundaments
and Frontiers by Doyle and Beuchet
(2007) should be studied for an in - depth
understanding of the subject of food micro-
biology and safety. Updated information on
rapid Methods and automation in microbiol-
ogy are also provided in a CD edited by Fung
(2009a).
There is no doubt that microorganisms
and their toxins and byproducts can be haz-
ardous to our food supplies. Much more work
on this topic needs to be done in the near and
far future.References
Acheson , D. W. K. , and R. K. Levinson. 1998. Safe
Eating. New York : Bantam Doubleday Dell
Publishing Company.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
2002. Number of reported foodborne disease out-
breaks, cases, and deaths by etiology United States
1992 – 1997. Atlanta, Ga. : CDC.400,000 people and caused several deaths in
Milwaukee in 1993. Cyclospora cayetanen-
sis from imported fruits was also in the news
for causing a food - borne outbreak. These
organisms have complex life cycles and are
studied by specialists in this area. Recently,
an organism named Pfi esteria piscicida was
responsible for killing a million fi sh on the
eastern shores of the United States. The
organism has 24 life stages, ranging from a
cyst stage to a toxic zoospore phase to an
amoeba stage. People in contact with water
infected with this organism complained of
vomiting and liver problems, but no conclu-
sive data are available on the pathogenicity
of this organism to humans.
Nonmicrobial Food - Borne
Disease Agents
Consumption of food containing other
living organisms can directly and indirectly
cause food - borne diseases as well. Among
nonmicrobial food - borne disease agents
are scombroid fi sh (associated with high
levels of histamine), cestodes (fl atworms
such as Taenia saginata , T. solium , and
Diphyllobothrium latum ), nematodes (hook-
worms such as Trichinella spiralis ), trema-
todes (fl ukes such as Clonorchis sinensis ),
shellfi sh (indirect toxin from the dinofl agel-
late Gonyaulax catenella ), ciguatera (from
eating fi sh such as barracudas, groupers, and
sea basses that feed on toxic algae), and
other poisonous fi sh (such as puffer fi sh and
moray eel).
Summary
Food safety is everybody ’ s responsibility.
Scientists are charged with identifying the
agents causing food - borne infections and
intoxications; studying the mechanisms of
intoxication and infection; and working on
the isolation, enumeration, characterization,
and identifi cation of the causative agents
and on their control by developing interven-