Food Safety and Technology: Protecting Our Food

A set of flashcards covering key concepts from the chapter on food safety and dietary supplements.

Foodborne Illness

Illness transmitted from food or water that contains a microscopic organism, its toxic secretions, or a toxic chemical.

HACCP

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, a multistep protocol designed to identify biological, chemical, and other potential food-safety hazards.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Agency that promotes public health and tracks foodborne illness outbreaks.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Agency that regulates food standards for food products, excluding meat, poultry, and eggs, as well as bottled water.

Pesticides

Chemicals used to protect against crop losses and disease, regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Food Intoxication

Illness resulting from eating food in which microbes have secreted toxins.

Norovirus

A virus responsible for a significant number of foodborne illness infections, often referred to as 'the stomach flu'.

E. coli

A bacterium that can cause foodborne illness; some strains produce harmful toxins.

Clostridium botulinum

A bacterium that produces botulism toxin, blocking nerve transmissions and potentially causing severe illness.

Genetic Modification

A process where the DNA of an organism is altered to produce desired traits in food crops.

Sulfites

Preservatives that have raised health concerns due to their potential effects on health.

Organic Foods

Foods grown without synthetic pesticides, regulated by the USDA's organic standards.

Food Additives

Chemicals added to enhance food, including nutrients, preservatives, flavorings, and colorings.

Recombinant DNA Technology

A type of genetic modification involving the combination of DNA from different sources.

Biomagnification

The accumulation of pollutants in organisms at each trophic level of a food chain.