Agricultural pesticide use and food safety:California's model

Pesticides have been an essential part of agriculture to protect crops and livestock from pest infestations and yield reduction for many decades. Despite their usefulness, pesticides could pose potential risks to food safety and the environment as well as human health. This paper reviews the positive benefits of agricultural pesticide use as well as some potential negative impacts on the environment and food safety. In addition, using the case of California, we discuss the need for both residue monitoring and effective pest management to promote food safety. Twenty years＇ pesticide residue data from California＇s pesticide residue monitoring program were analyzed. Results showed that more than 95% of food samples were in compliance with US pesticide residue standards （tolerances）. However, certain commodities from certain sources had high percentages of residues above tolerance levels. Even when residues above tolerance levels were detected, most were at levels well below 1 mg kg^-1, and most posed negligible acute health risk. However, a few detected residues had the potential to cause health effects. Therefore, establishing an effective food residue monitoring program is important to ensure food quality throughout the marketplace.

Methods to detect a vian influenza virus for food safety surveillance

Avian influenza （AI）, caused by the influenza A virus, has been a global concern for public health. AI outbreaks not only impact the poultry production, but also give rise to a risk in food safety caused by viral contamination of poultry products in the food supply chain. Distinctions in AI outbreak between strains H5N1 and H7N9 indicate that early detection of the AI virus in poultry is crucial for the effective warning and control of AI to ensure food safety. Therefore, the establishment of a poultry surveillance system for food safety by early detection is urgent and critical. In this article, methods to detect AI virus, including current methods recommended by the World Health Organization （WHO） and the World Organisation for Animal Health （Office International des Epizooties, OIE） and novel techniques not commonly used or commercialized are reviewed and evaluated for feasibility of use in the poultry surveillance system. Conventional methods usually applied for the purpose of AI diagnosis face some practical challenges to establishing a comprehensive poultry surveillance program in the poultry supply chain. Diverse development of new technologies can meet the specific requirements of AI virus detection in various stages or scenarios throughout the poultry supply chain where onsite, rapid and ultrasensitive methods are emphasized. Systematic approaches or integrated methods ought to be employed according to the application scenarios at every stage of the poultry supply chain to prevent AI outbreaks.

New Food Safety Law of China and the special issue on food safety in China

1. IntroductionThere have been a number of serious incidents of compro- mised food safety in China in recent years. To list a few, these include： a Salmonella outbreak, the use of horse- meat in burgers, the illegal use of phthalates as a clouding agent, the contamination of formula milk by melamine, the meat scandal of Shanghai Husi Food Company which sold reprocessed stale meat to many fast food chains includ- ing McDonald＇s, Burger King, and KFC across theworld,

Editorial for the special issue on food safety in China

All countries face the challenge of regulating their food sys- tems and anticipating the next major food-borne disease. In China, the difficulty of this challenge is exacerbated by scale. With regulatory authorities spread across various agencies and municipalities, Chinese regulators are hard-pressed to present a unified front in tackling food safety challenges. As a result of these difficulties, food safety incidents are often front page news, shocking the world with stories such as ＂cadmium laced rice＂, ＂melamine tainted milk＂, and ＂re- packaged gutter oil＂.