Overview of food safety scenario and regulatory requirements in fish and fishery products

Abstract

Food safety is a fundamental public concern. Achieving a safe food supply poses major challenges for national food safety officials. The Changing global patterns of food production, international trade, technology, public expectations for health protection and many other factors have created an increasingly demanding environment in which food safety systems operate. At the same time, an array of food-borne hazards pose risks to health and obstacles to international trade in foods. Food-borne disease remains a real and formidable problem in both developed and developing countries, causing great human suffering and significant economic losses. The reports indicate that one third of the population of developed countries get affected by foodborne diseases each year. In developing countries, food and water-borne diarrhoeal diseases kill an estimated 2.2 million people each year, among that most of them are children. The links between hazards in foods and illness in humans have sometimes been difficult to establish, due to the fact that where they have been identified, interventions have not always been technically, economically or administratively feasible. Better scientific knowledge of the hazards that cause food-borne disease and the risks these hazards pose to consumers, combined with the capacity to take appropriate interventions, should enable governments and industry to significantly reduce food-related risks, which otherwise may create serious challenges to food safety regulators.