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Book Review
Food Safety for Professionals
(Second Edition)
Mildred M. Cody and M. Elizabeth Kunkel
American Dietetic Association, Chicago, Illinois, 198 pages
Drs. Cody and Kunkel have compiled an informative overview of food safety
issues that is targeted toward dietetics professionals in particular but
is also useful for food safety professionals. The guide contains many
of the standard elements found in dietetics textbooks, including charts
of infectious agents, information on specific foods and safety concerns,
and basic food safety programs. The authors have wisely amended the standard
textbook approach by including information on consumer needs and behaviors,
a review of food safety surveillance programs, and a discussion of food
safety laws and regulations. This edition includes additional chapters
on suggestions for continuing education for dietetics professionals and
an expanded list of resources, including online references.
This guide includes many useful details in a understandable format. The
text is replete with tables (e.g., Descriptions of Specific Foodborne
Bacterial Pathogens; Major Food Laws in the United States), which make
the wealth of information easily readable. An extensive glossary specific
to dietetic practice is included. The text also contains a continuing
education self-assessment instrument for dietitians.
The breadth of the text is both its strength and weakness: a vast amount
of material is covered, but inevitably, general statements are bound to
leave out subtleties useful to the reader. In addition, foodborne illnesses
caused by bacterial pathogens are emphasized; therefore, much of the discussion
is focused on control measures for bacteria. The text incorrectly states,
“...bacteria cause most of the cases of foodborne illness in the United
States....” Most cases of foodborne illnesses are caused by unidentified
agents. Of the illnesses of known origin, most are caused by viruses (1).
On the other hand, the authors wisely include a discussion of parasites,
an often overlooked as a cause of foodborne disease.
Similarly, the statement “FDA can order a product recall (or seize goods
in the field)” on page 104 is inaccurate. While FDA can seize goods or
request that a firm initiate recalls of food products, the agency's authority
does not currently extend to mandatory recalls for most foods. FDA can,
however, require a recall of infant formula under certain circumstances.
The text would benefit from a deeper discussion of the role of the respective
federal agencies in protecting the U.S. food supply. In addition, several
important issues are not addressed or are not discussed thoroughly (e.g.,
global food safety considerations, the national food safety system, HACCP
regulations for meat and poultry, seafood, and juice).
To their credit, the authors include a discussion of chronic sequelae
of foodborne infections, an important area of consideration, particularly
for dietitians.
The text makes heavy use of Internet references. These references provide
an abundance of current information but risk becoming out-of-date if the
sites disappear or are not routinely updated.
Overall, the book is a valuable resource for its soup-to-nuts information
approach. The book, a gold mine of useful information for dietitians,
provides good one-stop-shopping for infectious disease scientists and
professionals wishing to learn about the world of food safety.
Camille Brewer*and Arthur P. Liang†
*Food and Drug Administration, College Park, MD; and †Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Reference
- Mead PS, Slutsker L, Dietz V, McCaig LF, Bresee JS,
Shapiro C, et al. Food-Related
illness and death in the United States. Emerg Infect Dis 1999:5;607–25.
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