Microbiologically Safe Foods

This book focuses on state of the art technologies to produce microbiologically safe foods for our global dinner table.  Each chapter summarizes the most recent scientific advances, particularly with respect to food processing, pre- and post-harvest food safety, quality control, and regulatory information.

The book begins with a general discussion of microbial hazards and their public health ramifications.  It then moves on to survey the production processes of different food types, including dairy, eggs, beef, poultry, and fruits and vegetables, pinpointing potential sources of human foodborne diseases. The authors address the growing market in processed foods as well novel interventions such as innovative food packaging and technologies to reduce spoilage organisms and prolong shelf life. Each chapter also describes the ormal flora of raw product, spoilage issues, pathogens of concern, sources of contamination, factors that influence survival and growth of pathogens and spoilage organisms, indicator microorganisms, approaches to maintaining product quailty and reducing harmful microbial populations, microbial standards for end-product testing, conventional microbiological and molecular methods, and regulatory issues.

Other important topics include the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), predictive microbiology, emerging foodborne pathogens, good agricultural and manufacturing processes, avian influenza, and bioterrorism.

Microbiologically Safe Foods

Edited by

Norma Heredia

Irene Wesley

Santos Garcia

A comprehensive overview of food contamination and how to guard against it

Spanning the entire "farm to fork" continuum, Microbiologically Safe Foods provides the most up-to-date treatment of food contamination and the state-of-the-art technologies that protect our food supply. An accurate assessment of today's global food production chain and the microbial threats that face it, this reference summarizes important advances in scientific knowledge, food-processing practice, pre- and post-harvest food safety, quality control, and regulatory information.

Written by leading authorities, Microbiologically Safe Foods covers such key topics as:

• Emerging foodborne pathogens
• The use of predictive microbiology
• The role of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food safety
• Avian influenza and its implications for food safety
• Innovative packaging and other technologies that inhibit spoilage organisms and prolong shelf life
• Recent foodborne outbreaks involving particular products, and the microbial hazards at fault
• The threat of bioterrorism
• The impact of HACCP strategies on enhancing food safety
• Prion disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)

Comprehensive, consistent, and current, Microbiologically Safe Foods is both an excellent educational text for food safety courses and training programs, and a key working reference for food scientists, processors, lab personnel, regulators, and others involved in the global food supply chain.

Norma Heredia, ScD, is Professor of Food Safety at the University of Nuevo Leon in Mexico. Her research focus is the epidemiology and control of microorganisms in foods. She serves the industry and government as a consultant and in laboratory analysis of food microbiology. She has served on the editorial boards and as an ad hoc reviewer for several journals.

Irene Wesley, DPH, is a microbiologist at the National Animal Disease Center, part of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, in Ames, Iowa. Her research focus is the on-farm detection of microbial foodborne pathogens in livestock and poultry. She is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology and has served on national food safety committees and editorial boards.

Santos Garcia, ScD, is Professor and Consultant of Food Safety at the University of Nuevo Leon in Mexico. His research focus is the physiology and control of microbial food-borne pathogens. He has served on international food safety committees and editorial boards for several journals. He is a coeditor of Guide to Foodborne Pathogens (Wiley).