For a healthy diet, be careful what you put into the dish. It is not enough to choose healthy foods, but also to recognize all the factors that can contaminate them. An aspect often ignored in the food sector is that of food defense. For some years now it is fashionable to talk about cooking: food and nutrition have gained an important space in our lives.
• Cooking as much as possible with raw materials and avoiding packaged and processed products allow at least to avoid an impressive list of additives such as preservatives, dyes, thickeners, sweeteners, flavorings, added fats (the list is endless), which certainly are not necessary and healthy. But remains the question of the raw materials and the supply chain that brings the product from cultivation (or breeding) to the table.
• For example cereals, vegetables, and fruit of different colors should be consumed every day, but who ensures that the products we buy are of good quality and are not "contaminated" or cultivated with too many pesticides, chemicals or even transgenic crops?
• Indeed, there is still no certainty about this subject, but it is better to choose the precautionary principle. In doubt, due to the lack of scientific evidence, that is, it is always best to avoid a potential health hazard. The same principle that uses EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority. How often a substance considered safe and used for a long time in the food industry has turned out to be carcinogenic and abolished?
• For food safety, companies traditionally resort to a control plan that involves the application of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, which allows you to control the critical points of the food production system from unintentional dangers.
• But the thing must cover the whole production chain. Suppliers are involved upstream; downstream, in the transformation, it is often a matter of controlling the distribution chain, that of cold (for some products) and the ways of conservation, in addition to materials used in contact with food.
• All of these must not in any way transfer substances or molecules to food that may pose a health hazard to consumers or make changes to the composition and the organoleptic characteristics of the food itself.
• Unfortunately, not all materials are officially regulated in this area. For those regulated, two elements are considered: composition and ability to transfer substances to the food. The packaging function must be to store the food by protecting it from microorganisms, light, and air. In Europe regulations are depending on the material: plastic, ceramic and cellophane, paper (nationally regulated). Other materials, such as wood, are not yet regulated. So it is a varied and complex situation. The legislation comes from considerations concerning the inherent toxicological risk of substances and molecules that make up the material and the hazard that this can take in a consumer exposure scenario. The risks can go from simple manifestations of hypersensitivity to allergy forms, up to intoxication. It depends on the amount and frequency with which the material is taken through contact with the food.
• We also have the privilege of being able to enjoy a particular food: exercise, food for the mind. In this case, we must not worry about particular intolerances or problems of conservation. The only precaution remains to avoid the danger of indigestion.
Safe Food
Eat Guaranteed
Beyond the trends, there are always strong doubts: how can I be sure of the quality and the salubrity of the product I purchased? How do I get the guarantee that food in the dish is truly healthy and not corrupted by the way it is cultivated, produced or stored, and that the whole chain from cultivation to the table is controlled?• Cooking as much as possible with raw materials and avoiding packaged and processed products allow at least to avoid an impressive list of additives such as preservatives, dyes, thickeners, sweeteners, flavorings, added fats (the list is endless), which certainly are not necessary and healthy. But remains the question of the raw materials and the supply chain that brings the product from cultivation (or breeding) to the table.
• For example cereals, vegetables, and fruit of different colors should be consumed every day, but who ensures that the products we buy are of good quality and are not "contaminated" or cultivated with too many pesticides, chemicals or even transgenic crops?
• Indeed, there is still no certainty about this subject, but it is better to choose the precautionary principle. In doubt, due to the lack of scientific evidence, that is, it is always best to avoid a potential health hazard. The same principle that uses EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority. How often a substance considered safe and used for a long time in the food industry has turned out to be carcinogenic and abolished?
• For food safety, companies traditionally resort to a control plan that involves the application of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, which allows you to control the critical points of the food production system from unintentional dangers.
• But the thing must cover the whole production chain. Suppliers are involved upstream; downstream, in the transformation, it is often a matter of controlling the distribution chain, that of cold (for some products) and the ways of conservation, in addition to materials used in contact with food.
Eye on the touch
How many are aware of the importance of packing food, the so-called packaging? Materials that come into contact (direct and indirect) with the food must be safe and fit, with a specialist acronym called Moca (materials and objects in contact with food). In the category of Moca are also packs, packagings, wrapping papers, labels, inks, plastic films, but also machines used in production, work plans, etc.• All of these must not in any way transfer substances or molecules to food that may pose a health hazard to consumers or make changes to the composition and the organoleptic characteristics of the food itself.
• Unfortunately, not all materials are officially regulated in this area. For those regulated, two elements are considered: composition and ability to transfer substances to the food. The packaging function must be to store the food by protecting it from microorganisms, light, and air. In Europe regulations are depending on the material: plastic, ceramic and cellophane, paper (nationally regulated). Other materials, such as wood, are not yet regulated. So it is a varied and complex situation. The legislation comes from considerations concerning the inherent toxicological risk of substances and molecules that make up the material and the hazard that this can take in a consumer exposure scenario. The risks can go from simple manifestations of hypersensitivity to allergy forms, up to intoxication. It depends on the amount and frequency with which the material is taken through contact with the food.
Proper Nutrition
At the bottom of the chain, there is always the consumer, which has any consequences. Constant information and attention in selecting quality foods are the only means we have.• We also have the privilege of being able to enjoy a particular food: exercise, food for the mind. In this case, we must not worry about particular intolerances or problems of conservation. The only precaution remains to avoid the danger of indigestion.
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