On Apr. 7, 2003, the National Academy of Sciences released “Scientific Criteria to Ensure Safe Food,” a report commissioned by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Current food safety standards have been set over a period of years and under diverse circumstances, based on a host of scientific, legal, and practical constraints.

Scientific Criteria to Ensure Safe Food lays the groundwork for creating new regulations that are consistent, reliable, and ensure the best protection for the health of American consumers. This book addresses the biggest concerns in food safety—including microbial disease surveillance plans, tools for establishing food safety criteria, and issues specific to meat, dairy, poultry, seafood, and produce.

It provides a candid analysis of the problems with the current system, and outlines the major components of the task at hand: creating workable, streamlined food safety standards and practices.