Is it Safe to Eat?: Enjoy Eating and Minimize Food Risks PDF
Preview Is it Safe to Eat?: Enjoy Eating and Minimize Food Risks
Is it Safe toEat? Ian Shaw Is it Safe to Eat? Enjoy Eating and Minimize Food Risks Original illustrations by Margaret Tanner Professor Dr.IanShaw CollegeofScience University ofCanterbury PrivateBag4800 Christchurch8020,New Zealand [email protected] Library of Congress ControlCardNumber 2004109922 ISBN 3-540-21286-8 Springer BerlinHeidelbergNew York DOI10.1007/b11381 Bibliographicinformationpublishedby DieDeutscheBibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailedbibliographicdatais availablein theInternet at <http://dnb.ddb.de>. This workis subject tocopyright.All rights are reserved,whether the wholeor part ofthe materialis concerned,specifically the rights oftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations, recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmor inany other way,and storageindata banks.Duplicationofthis publicationor parts thereofis permittedonly under theprovi- sions oftheGermanCopyright Law ofSeptember 9,1965,inits current version,andper- missionfor usemust always beobtainedfromSpringer-Verlag.Violations areliable topros- ecution under theGermanCopyright Law. Springer-Verlagis apart ofSpringer Science+Business Media springeronline.com 1.©IanShaw,Lyttelton,New Zealand 2.©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg 2005 PrintedinGermany The useofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,etc.in this publication does not imply,evenin theabsenceof a specific statement,that suchnames areexempt from the relevant protectivelaws and regulations and thereforefreefor general use. Typesetting:Fotosatz-ServiceKöhler GmbH,Würzburg Productioneditor:ChristianeMesserschmidt,Rheinau Cover:design&productionGmbH,Heidelberg Printedonacid-freepaper 02/3020 –54 3 2 1 0 Preface The titleofthis bookis a tribute tomy mentor andfriend,Pro- fessor André McLean, whose inaugural professorial lecture at University CollegeLondonin1981 was entitledIs it safe tolive? Inhis talkhe ran throughlife’s toxicological risks and sparked my love affair with risk.I worked with him for 6 years during which time I consumed his knowledge and enthusiasm about food from both a risk and gastronomic perspective. So it seemedappropriate toadapt his title tofoodand to use this as the titlefor my first bookabout food. The book is a personal journey through food safety. I tried to cover all of the burning issues in the field,and related these tomy personalexperiences.Ihavebeeninvolvedinmany of thecaseexamples,thenews headlines that Ihave used toil- lustrate themedia’s viewpoint werecut fromnewspapers at the time–Ican’t resist cuttingout articles just incaseI want to re- fer to themin thefuture.I usually don’t,but thedog-eared yel- lowedcuttings inmy box filelabelledinterestingnews clippings gavea usefulperspectivefor this bookandjustified their occu- pancy ofmy book shelffor over 20 years –not tomention their 14,000 milejourney fromEngland toNew Zealand when weem- igrated5 years ago. It is difficult to get everything right,and to cover every angleofa subject as emotiveas food safety especially whenit is intended to reflect apersonal viewpoint.Ihope that thefacts are right evenifmy interpretationofthemis questionable to some –Iintended tobecontroversialinplaces.Viewpoints makepeo- ple think.Food safety has become suchanenormous issue that people whooftenknow nothingabout it,e.g.politicians,express their opinion oh too often – so I thought that since I have workedin thefieldfor 20 years that I toodeserveda say! The book is intended to give you an insight into the worldoffood safety and tohelp you lookat theevidenceabout theeffects ofchemicalandbiologicalcontaminants offoodand V make up your ownmindabout risk.Ihope that it infuriates you inplaces,but that when you turn thelast page that you feel you haveabetter understandingofoneofthemost important facets ofour lives –FOOD. By the way,Idoanswer the questionis it safe toeat?but not until the last page of the book…but don’t take my word for it! July 2004 IanShaw VI Contents FoodSafetyThrough theAges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Foodis Just OneofLife’sRisks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 BacteriainFood-GoodorBad? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 MadCow Diseaseand theElusivePrion . . . . . . . . . 97 NaturalToxins inFood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 AgrochemicalResidues inFood . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Gender BendingChemicals inFood . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Genetically ModifiedFood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Isit SafetoEat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 VII Acknowledgements I thankDavidZehms for reading themanuscript withanintel- ligent non-scientist’s mindandpointingout thenumerous un- intelligible sections,preparing the subject index (which is the key to a good book),and for his constant support and smiles duringmy incarcerationinmy study while writing thebook. Margaret Tanner added her characteristic undying effi- ciency to thepreparationofthediagrams and toobtainingper- mission to reproduce theillustrations. Many friends andcolleagues havehelped withdiagrams and data – I particularly thank,Dr Andrew Hudson,Dr Ellen Podovinsky,BarbaraThomsonandGwynethCarey-Smith. I don’t thank our neighbour for building a new house andcausingconsiderableangst whileI was trying to write.Writ- ing with the hum of concrete pumping and nails being ham- meredinto woodis aninterestingintellectualchallenge! And finally, I thank New Zealand for being the most beautiful country in the world,and giving me an inspirational view frommy study that makes mefeelhappy tobealive. July 2004 IanShaw IX To David 1 Food Safety Through the Ages
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