TVC 421: Veterinarian in Society (1+0)

Veterinarians Food Regulatory Authorities

VETERINARIANS AND FOOD REGULATORY AUTHORITIES

• At the beginning of the twenty-first century, increased levels of terrorist activities and a higher incidence of food-borne illness made regulation and protection of the food supply a worldwide concern.
• The goal of veterinarian in food regulation is to ensure that the public food supply is safe from disease caused by food contamination from infected food animals. Such contamination can occur during all phases of food animal production, from farm to fork including farming, slaughtering, processing, packaging, storage, and cooking.
• Apart from coordinating efforts to control outbreaks of Zoonotic diseases, such as Anthrax, E.Coli, Brucellosis, Salmonellosis, Trichinosis, Influenza, Tuberculosis, Swine flu, etc., the veterinarian also interacts with the regulating authorities by sponsoring programs to prevent and treat such diseases and support the development and distribution of safe and effective vaccines, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and drugs against these diseaases.
• Because the responsibility for food safety is often divided among several agencies with overlapping authority, there have been many challenges for the veterinarians in solving the problems of worldwide food-borne disease. The challenges include monitoring food, air, and water-supply pollution; observing food manufacturing and processing for the presence of additives and contaminants; conducting research on the safety of genetically modified foods; amassing larger food and supply inventories for countries to access in times of disaster; and assisting with the management of malicious contamination of food for terrorist purposes.
• Some of the common foods regulating organizations are:
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
• The World Health Organization (WHO)
• The Codex Alimentarius Commission
• European Union Food Safety Policy Committee
• The World Food Safety Organization.