A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

Food Safety

Nearly 2 million people die each year, mostly children, from food- and water-borne diseases as a result of unsafe food production, processing, preparation and distribution. Technologies play a pivotal role in ensuring safety. They are needed to keep food and water clean, to cook food thoroughly, to keep food at safe temperature, to extend shelf life, and reduce spoilage and contamination. Food safety is important for ensuring the nutritional quality of food, preventing food-borne disease, health hazards, and for preventing malnutrition and starvation. Proper food safety management is vital to public health, human welfare and economic development. The responsibility for ensuring food safety is shared not only by producers and consumers but also by policy-making institutions. Local, national and international institutions can play a crucial role by setting regulatory processes that ensure food safety standards are met. Although some contend that free-market mechanisms can ensure public health and consumer protection, most agree that food safety requires at least some regulatory regimes. Policy-makers must balance competing needs, interests and values of food producers, distributors and consumers using scientific knowledge, technologies, and ethical judgments.