Noel Seversky

RC 1000

Dr. Jessica Blackburn

11 December 2019

Food Safety

The world's population is steadily increasing, food safety is becoming a major concern

when it comes to food processing and managing. This is due to inadequate food examination,

poor hygienic practices and lack of reliable food personnel. It can be argued that foodborne

illnesses are gaining prevalence due to improper food handling. But what exactly are the reasons

behind foodborne illnesses becoming more prevalent, and even more specifically in developing

countries? The viewpoints of the most vulnerable to illness; young children, people with

weakened immune systems and the elderly will be discussed. Food processors, retailers, food

service personnel and consumers have direct effect on the increased foodborne illnesses

throughout the world.

Foodborne disease in the 21st century is increasing globally specifically in developing

countries. Studies have been done to understand why foodborne diseases are increasing

drastically across the world (Scott 1). “​Although foodborne disease data collection systems often

miss the mass of home-based outbreaks of sporadic infection, it is now accepted that many cases

of foodborne illness occur as a result of improper food handling and preparation by consumers in

their own kitchens.” (1). This is the main reason foodborne illnesses are increasing globally, food

is handled improperly in the most simple way; in kitchens. Millions of people around the world

are contaminated by improper food handling. Additionally, the growing population of the elderly
and people with compromised immune systems are more at risk. This is from lack of in-home

proper food hygienic practices. Developing countries, on the other hand, are experiencing a shift

in healthcare delivery which causes millions of patients to be nursed at home. (1). This places

extreme risks on patients because developing countries are more vulnerable to foodborne

illnesses, the kitchens of developing countries are the most succeptiable. Although the Journal of

Infectious Diseases states a number of countries have launched national campaigns to reduce

foodborne disease, which includes informing people of the importance of proper food-handling

techniques at home, foodborne disease is still increasing at a substantial rate. (2).

Foodborne pathogens in seven African countries​ ​(Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya,

Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda) from regional and international studies were examined to

understand food pathogens in developing countries from a public health perspective. (Paudyal,

Anihouvi et. al 1). A proven study has been done in the African countries that consisted of

splitting up two categories of food: raw foods and ready-to-eat (RTE) foods. Then the

experimenters had both groups consume the food. The correlation of foodborne illnesses to food

pathogens of each category were evaluated after. Shockingly the prevalence of foodborne

illnesses resulted from RTE foods was almost as high as when raw food was consumed. E-coli

was the most common pathogen in both RTE and raw foods. “E-coli averaged at 37.6% in raw

foods and 31.6% in RTE foods. (1). There is a skew in prevalence of food pathogens in

developing countries. Since ready to eat foods had almost as many pathogens that led to

foodborne illness as raw foods did, this shows that there is poor food handling practices and

hygiene in developing countries. When a person consumes raw food, it should be extensively

more harmful than consuming a ready-to-eat food. When raw foods are almost equal in safety to
eat as ready-to-eat foods, there is a problem. Poor hygienic practices in developing countries

contributes to foodborne pathogens, specifically e-coli in the seven African countries discussed.

This is one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses.

Several emerging trends in foodborne illnesses are linked to the increasing number of

foodborne outbreaks. The causes of the outbreaks are not being extensively monitored. The

behaviors of food processors, retailers, food service personnel and consumers could drastically

affect the prevalence of foodborne illnesses across the globe. In a study by Beattie and Sellers,

the causes of a few foodborne diseases were examined. Bacterial causes like Salmonella are

widely monitored, but other bacterial causes such as Clostridium perfringens, Bacillus cereus,

and Staphylococcus aureus are less well known. (Beattie and Sellers 1). There are surveillance

activities that are done to monitor these causes, however the authors, Beattie and Sellers state

that, “Not all important causes are being equally monitored. Critical behaviors by food

processors, food retailers, foodservice personnel, and consumers can reduce the risk of

foodborne illness episodes.” (2). This quote leads people to believe that food is not being

properly monitored. Foodborne illnesses are affecting many, emerging trends can be directly

associated with the lack of food personnel knowledge. There is sufficient evidence to suggest

that foodborne illnesses causes are not being extensively monitored and this directly leads to an

increase in foodborne illnesses across the world.

Foodborne illnesses have become more of an important health concern worldwide

because of an increasing population. There are emerging microbiological issues in food safety

and technologies for detection of foodborne illnesses. In an academic article by Meng and Doyle,

they state, “The makeup of the pathogens that infect food has not changed but population has
substantially increased causing less time devoted to food preparation but also because evolving

technologies for food production, processing and distribution causing more prevalence of

foodborne illnesses” (Meng and Doyle 1). With the substantial population growth food is needed

to be processed at a much faster rate, this leads the processor and food handler to check the food

less extensively and handle the food improperly. When large amounts of contaminated foods are

sent out to the grocery store, a large population of people can be infected immediately. Even

though many technologies to detect foodborne pathogens and environmental pollutants have

been created, Meng and Doyle state that, “many challenges still remain in their application to

rapid and accurate detection and identification of pathogenic microorganisms.” (1). This gives

some hope to the detection of pathogenic microorganisms but still does not solve the issue of

growing population in correlation to less extensive food examination. With a growing population

there is an increase in foodborne illnesses. Additionally, an increasing number of deaths have

emerged directly from improper food handling. This issue is worth preventing.

Major pathogens have caused millions of outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. In the study

by Scallan, Griffin et. al, different agents and causes of foodborne illness outbreaks were

extensively examined. Date was taken from surveys, hospital records, and death certificates to

estimate the number of outbreaks that have been caused by the 31 known pathogens. Case

studies and tables were also used to discuss unspecified agents and their major contributions to

foodborne illness outbreaks. The authors claim that, “​Each year, 31 major known pathogens

acquired in the United States caused an estimated 9.4 million episodes of foodborne illness.”

(Scallan, Griffin et. al). This is a substantial number of episodes, the reasons for these episodes

were also examined. The authors believe that may of the outbreaks are directly related to poor
examination of foods that contain infected bacteria. This article provides several statistics that

cover the entirety of increasing outbreaks across the world. Such as number of hospitalizations,

deaths, and number of people suffering from acute gastroenteritis (intestinal infection/stomach

virus) directly associated with foodborne illnesses. The evidence of the 31 major known bacteria

are leading people to believe that foodborne illness is increasing across the globe.

Foodborne illnesses are vastly affecting many countries all around the world and a

massive number of outbreaks have caused numerous deaths. This is a problem worth fixing,

several solutions have been proposed. One solution could be to educate people on proper

hygienic practices of handling food. This could be educating people in the US to go out to

developing countries and share this knowledge or it could include educating people in the US

where still many food outbreaks are present. Many studies have shown that cleanliness is a major

contributor in preventing foodborne illnesses. Another solution could be targeting for direct food

consumption. This could be especially true in developing countries. If producers aimed for direct

food consumption there would be no left over contaminated food. Also a smaller amount of food

that is prepared and monitored leads to less error in food preparation. A final solution could be to

enforce laws that ensure proper food handling and processing. If laws were in place it would be

harder for a producer to improperly handle food. This would directly lower the number of

foodborne illness outbreaks. As of right now the laws are loose and food processing and handling

is not being correctly monitored. Implementing the solutions discussed could drastically reduce

the number of foodborne illnesses across the globe.

Foodborne illnesses are overall gaining prevalence across the world, specifically in

developing countries due to lack of food personnel knowledge, growing population (less time for
food processing), poor hygienic practices and food security. These findings can be directly

related to the increase of foodborne illness across the world. The solutions discussed are ways to

eliminate many outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. The solutions are worth implementing to end

food contaminations. Foodborne illness is increasing at a fast rate, and this is directly due to

improper food handling at all stages of the food process.

 Works Cited

Beattie, E. Samuel and McCabe-Sellers, J. Beverly. “Food Safety: Emerging Trends in

Foodborne Illness Surveillance and Prevention.” ​Journal of the American Dietetic
Association,​ Elsevier, 21 Oct. 2004,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002822304014002​.

Meng, Jianghong and Michael P.Doyle. “Introduction. Microbiological Food Safety.”

Microbes and Infection,​ Elsevier Masson, 19 Mar. 2002,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1286457902015526

Narayan Paudyal, Victor Anihouvi, et al. “Prevalence of Foodborne Pathogens in Food from
Selected African Countries – A Meta-Analysis.” ​International Journal of Food
Microbiology,​ Elsevier, 6 Mar. 2017,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168160517300922

Scallan, Elaine, et al. “Foodborne Illness Acquired in the United States--Unspecified Agents.”
Emerging Infectious Diseases​, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jan. 2011,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3204615/

Scott, Elizabeth. “Food Safety and Foodborne Disease in the 21st Century.” ​Canadian Journal of
Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology,​ Hindawi,
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/cjidmm/2003/363984/abs/