Food safety has become a major concern for most nations across the globe.
Although this is not a new concern, the standards involving food processing, storage, and shipping have become more complex as the international shipment of foodstuffs continues to grow.
These standards have usually grown out of western nations attempting to avoid major food safety crisis after the fact.
Clear and concise standards have emerged over the last 100 years to aid the industry in keeping contamination or food poisoning crisis to a minimum.
Standards have been developed for food containers to control points to food processing.
There are now multiple standards in different nations but there are also two international organizations that support the creation of various standards on the global stage including, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Food Safety Food safety is a process to ensure quality food; beverage and potable water are provided without risk of contamination or food borne illness.
It is a scientific discipline developed in most developed countries to support the safe manufacture, processing, transport, storage, handling and preparation for food.
It usually includes labelling, additives, food hygiene, and restriction of certain chemicals such as pesticide use.
It may also include regulations on food alteration and biotechnology.
As food can contain bacteria that can transmit disease from one person to another, it is usually a priority in developed countries.
Non-developed countries generally focus on the safety requirements of providing safe drinking water.
WHO & FAO The World Health Organization promotes 5 guiding principles for food safety and hygiene: 1) Prevent pathogens from contaminated food from spreading to pets, people and pests.
2)Keep separate raw and cooked foods to avoid contamination.
3)Cook foods at the appropriate temperature for the appropriate amount of time.
4) Store food at the proper temperature throughout the entire distribution process.
5)Use safe water and cooking equipment.
WHO and FAO produced the Codex Alimentation which serves as a guideline to food safety internationally.
This codex is a list of voluntary measures intended for their member states to follow to promote global food safety.
It has also been used to settle trade disputes between nations that have food trade relations.
Unfortunately it is not a mandatory regulation and its implementation is not universal.
Other food standards Other standards for the proper handling, storage and shipping of food include most western nation's individual regulations.
HACCP is a guiding principle that most multinational corporations and most western nations also ascribe to.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has been a major movement committed to the international standardization of business processes.
Recently, the ISO 22,000 standard was introduced to deal with standardizing food handling, storage and safety.
Although it is not as widely accepted at present, the ISO standard in business in trade relations is a recognizable business standard that purports good faith and the highest quality standards.
When looking for proper food containers to properly store and ship your foodstuffs, products, produce, or meat ensure the quality of the supplier and that it meats international food safety standards.