7^th European Food Safety & Standards Conference November 13-14, 2017 Athens, Greece

The terms food safety and food quality can sometimes be confusing. Food safety refers to all those hazards, whether chronic or acute, that may make food injurious to the health of the consumer. It is not negotiable. Quality includes all other attributes that influence a product's value to the consumer. This includes negative attributes such as spoilage, contamination with filth, discoloration, off-odours and positive attributes such as the origin, colour, flavour, texture and processing method of the food. In considering market to consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer.  

Food fraud is a collective term used to encompass  the deliberate  and  intentiona , substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of  food, food ingredients, or food packaging;  or false or misleading statements made about a product,  for economic gain

Foodborne illnesses result from eating food contaminated with bacteria, the poisons bacteria produce, viruses, parasites, or chemicals in the food. Symptoms may include:  Diarrhoea, nausea vomiting, fever, malaise, headache, dizziness. One of the key differences between foodborne illnesses and allergies is that not everyone is susceptible. As long as they are not contaminated, many people who have no allergies can consume any foods they like without suffering adverse reactions. Microbiological hazards are one of the most indicative, causes of food poisoning. An understanding of these hazards is vitally to understanding how suitable controls may be applied  Food safety, quality  testing is required to obtain a certificate of testing for ready to eat and raw products at certain stages of processing Food testing technologies such as Polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) testing determines major pathogens like E.coli0157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Campylobacter by identify the presence of the organism's DNA  ELFA Enzyme-Linked Fluorescent Assay exhibit pathogens by detecting their protein

Health food is food considered beneficial to health in ways that go beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. Food variety means eating a wide variety of foods from each of the five food groups, in the amounts recommended. Eating many different foods helps maintain a healthy and interesting diet which provides a range of different nutrients to the body. Eating a variety of foods promotes good health and can help reduce the risk of disease. Health claims refer to a relationship between a food and health rather than a statement of content

Food production is the process of transforming raw ingredients into prepared food products. Food production includes industries that take raw food products and convert them into marketable food items. Home food production includes converting produce into forms for long-term storage. Food processing is the process of changing or transforming raw food materials into consumable forms or products. Food processing offers many advantages such as prolonging the life span of the food, preventing food from going bad, for easy packaging etc. Food preservation involves preventing the growth of bacteria, fungi (such as yeasts), or other micro-organisms (although some methods work by introducing benign bacteria or fungi to the food), as well as slowing the oxidation of fats that cause rancidity.

The question of regulation, innovation and their influence on competitiveness in global markets has a high relevance for the food industry. However, little has been done to understand the effect of regulation on the capacity of such a traditional industry like the food industry to discover and to introduce new products and services in the market. Transformation activities in the food industry can be detected on different levels and with differing methodological approaches innovative fields in the food industry are analysed whether the existing regulatory framework has hindering or facilitating impacts on the development and introduction of new supplements: the use of genetic engineering approaches for food production and food processing, the field of health align Functional Foods and organic food products. In the coming years the agro-food sector is confronted with multifarious new scientific approaches and technical opportunities which often have an interdisciplinary character. In this context it is advisable to broaden the knowledge base of external co-operations and include clients, retail companies, research institutes, particular service companies as well as other companies of the food and supplying industries in such networks

Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health food hazards. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between food industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry to market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering market to consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer. The nature of  some current food safety  regulatory issues will change with time  include regulation of genetically modified foods including labelling, nutrition and health claims, rapid response to food emergencies, food borne disease outbreaks and emerging pathogens.

Sustainability of global food production and its standard depend to a greater extent on the quality of the environment. At present time the quality of the environment in which the food production depends on is at a critical margin since environmental degradation and pollution of environment is increasing in an terrify rate. Pollutants in the environment are contaminating our food amenity and public health problems associated with such contaminants are increasing. The alarming increase of non-contagious diseases such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart diseases in human populations in many geographical locations of the world could also be associated to environmental contaminants associated with our food resources. Abstracts are invited from the above discipline which relate food environment protection and public health issues.

Food loss is defined as “the decrease in quantity or quality of food” and are the agricultural or fisheries products intended for human consumption that are ultimately not eaten by people or that have incurred a reduction in quality reflected in their nutritional value, economic value or food safety. An important part of food loss is “food waste”, which refers to the discarding or alternative (nonfood) use of food that was fit for human consumption – by choice or after the food has been left to spoil or expire as a result of negligence. The causes of food waste in medium- and high-income countries relate mainly to consumer behaviour and the policies and regulations put in place to address other sectorial priorities. For example, agricultural subsidies may contribute to the production of surplus quantities of farm crops, of which at least a proportion is lost or wasted. Food safety and quality standards can be applied in ways that remove food that is still safe for human consumption from the food supply chain. At the consumer level, inadequate planning of purchases and failure to use food before its expiry date also lead to avoidable food waste