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Historically,
Roman emperors, Egyptian pharaohs, Biblical kings, Chinese
and Japanese emperors, European monarchs, et cetera,
employed slaves or animals as food tasters to assure the
safety of their comestibles. It was only after Louis Pasteur
introduced the world to microbes that an understanding of
the ubiquity of pathogens began to develop. With modern
life has come an even greater appreciation of the scope
of the problem of foodborne illness.
For
example, all of the following factors are the result of
modern advances in animal husbandry, scientific knowledge,
economic development, technology, and medicine, and yet
all also contribute to the increase in the risk of foodborne
disease:
-
An
increase in consumption of food of animal origin due
to improved economies and standards of living.
-
Increased
demand for foods of animal origin has increased production
of animals infected with potential foodborne pathogens.
-
Lifestyle
changes have enabled more people to eat in food service
establishments, where food handlers are often unaware
of, or unconcerned with, food safety.
-
Traditions
and beliefs concerning food safety and foodborne illness
causation have changed.
-
Increased
travel has resulted in the rise of travel-induced disease.
-
Failures
in commercial food processing, handling, distribution,
and storage have occurred.
-
Contaminated
feeds have contaminated the food source environment.
Emerging
and re-emerging pathogens are major contributors to foodborne
illnesses currently in the news. Some of the foodborne pathogens
to have emerged in the past twenty years are:
-
Campylobacter
jejuni
-
Escherichia
coli 0157H7
-
Listeria
monocytogenes
-
Salmonella
enteritidis
-
Vibrio
cholerae
-
Vibrio
vulnificus
-
Yersinia
enterocolitica
-
Norwalk-like
virus (NLV)
-
Rotavirus
-
Cryptosporidium
parvum
-
Giardia
lamblia
-
Toxoplasma
gondii
-
Bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prion
There
has been much in the news recently about "drug-resistant"
diseases of various natures and importance. Some of the
cause for development of these drug-resistant strains must
be assigned to the use of antibiotics as growth enhancers
in the meat and poultry industries. Also, it is believed
that animal feeding practices have resulted in the transmission
of BSE, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD) in
humans, and, possible, the wasting disease seen in deer
and elk populations in the western United States, to which
two human deaths have been attributed.
The
following conditions all contribute to the development of
diseases resistant to modern antibiotics:
-
Agricultural
practice changes
-
Technology
changes
-
Public
health policy changes
-
Microbial
adaptation
-
Animal
management practice changes
-
Animal
slaughter, meat processing, and distribution changes
-
Changes
in eating habits and food handling by consumers.
The
growing demand for fresh foods, preservative-free foods,
"natural" foods, and the increased rate of transporting
foodstuffs across national borders creates a tremendous
potential for contamination. All of these human choices
have provided expanded niches for pathogens and, given the
nature of the beasties, they will respond with alacrity.
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