What part of the food chain poses the greatest risk for foodborne illness?
It is difficult to determine. Each part of the food chain poses different risks. For example, the relatively uncontrolled environment of production agriculture may present numerous avenues for food to become contaminated by pathogens. The processing environment can expose pathogens to environmental stresses that make the surviving microorganisms better able to not only survive future processing controls but also to overcome the body’s defenses and cause illness. Each pathogen/ food combination represents a combination of many factors. Some may be best addressed through good agricultural practices to prevent contamination in the first place. Others may be best addressed by a control step in the processing environment to inactive any pathogens on the food. Others may be best addressed by consumer food handling and preparation practices. Microbiological food safety is truly a farm-to-table issue.
