Editorial

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Roland E. Poms

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Abstract

A recent editorial in this journal was dedicated to incidents of chemical contamination in food, highlighting the extent of impacts on society concerning economic, environmental, social and political costs associated with the various events (see QAS 2010, 2, 4). One important and not too reassuring fact concerning chemical contaminants stated that in contrast to microbiological outbreaks, the evaluation of cause and effect of many chemical contaminants is complicated by the delayed onset of symptoms. One might think that the reverse conclusion would imply that there is a high certainty– supported by the ‘relatively immediate’ onset of symptoms, established analytical tools, food safety management and hygiene guidelines, and political transparency – to trace the effect of microbial contamination back to its source and eliminate the offending intruder from the food chain. A recent example of an EHEC [enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (E. coli) – a very potent pathogenic bacterium] outbreak in Germany showed the vulnerability of the system and taught us a lesson that we cannot lay back in self-complacency and shift the blame to ‘imported’ contaminants, if safety management ‘inside’ does not make use of the tools and the support of established food safety networks. Salmonella, Shigella and E. coli O157: H7 are the most prevalent pathogenic bacteria in developing and developed countries. These pathogens account for a large number of incidents of foodborne bacterial disease. In case of an outbreak, it is of utmost importance to rapidly isolate the pathogenic organisms from the patient (usually from feaces or blood samples) and to match the strain to isolates from suspect food sources. This sounds simple and straightforward, but experience shows that this is more complex than that. As a matter of fact, a speedy reaction in identifying an outbreak as such and initiating the necessary steps of risk management are a race against time. If not discovered soon enough after the outbreak, the source of infection might disappear and the necessary epidemiological link may never be established.

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