Food Safety Through the Food Chain

What Food Safety Through the Food Chain covers

Food Safety Through the Food Chain is examined in Unit A2 1 Option B, Food Safety and Quality — one of two options. It covers WHO and shared responsibility for food safety, animal and plant health risks, the Food Standards Agency and DAERA, GMP, quality assurance standards and traceability, HACCP in food-serving establishments and hygiene ratings, food law inspections and EHPs.

The 6 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• WHO and shared responsibility for food safetyThe global burden of foodborne disease, the WHO's Five Keys to Safer Food, Codex Alimentarius, INFOSAN, World Food Safety Day, and each link's responsibility from farm to fork.Open →
• Animal and plant health risksVeterinary medicine residues and withdrawal periods, antimicrobial resistance, BSE and animal feed, pesticide maximum residue levels, and mycotoxins such as aflatoxin and patulin.Open →
• The Food Standards Agency and DAERAThe Food Standards Agency's origins, aims and remit in Northern Ireland, the National Food Crime Unit, and DAERA's animal and plant health, meat inspection and port controls.Open →
• GMP, quality assurance standards and traceabilityGood Manufacturing Practice, quality assurance and quality control, BRCGS, farm assurance, ISO 22000, one step back and one step forward, withdrawals, recalls, batch codes and the horsemeat scandal.Open →
• HACCP in food-serving establishmentsThe origins and seven principles of HACCP, critical control points and limits, monitoring, corrective action, verification, records, temperature limits and Safe Catering.Open →
• Hygiene ratings, food law inspections and EHPsThe food hygiene rating scheme and mandatory display in Northern Ireland, how inspections are scheduled and conducted, improvement notices and closures, and the work of Environmental Health Practitioners.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Food Safety Through the Food Chain further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Quality assurance vs Quality control

  Quality assurance: a whole-system approach that builds safety into every production stage to prevent faults. Quality control: the testing and inspection of finished samples to detect faults.

• Product withdrawal vs Product recall

  Product withdrawal: removal of unsafe food from the supply chain before it reaches shoppers. Product recall: a request that shoppers return or discard unsafe food already bought.

• Critical control point vs Critical limit

  Critical control point: a step in a process where a hazard must be managed to keep food safe. Critical limit: the measurable value that separates safe from unsafe at such a step.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   According to WHO estimates published in 2015, how many people fall ill from contaminated food each year?

   Model answer

   The WHO estimated about 600 million cases of foodborne illness a year, almost one person in ten worldwide. The same 2015 estimate put deaths at about 420,000 a year.

2. 2

   Which age group carries the heaviest share of the global foodborne disease burden?

   Model answer

   Children under five carry about 40% of the burden, according to the WHO's 2015 estimates. Roughly 125,000 young children die from foodborne disease each year.

3. 3

   Why does the WHO treat food safety as a public health priority rather than a private matter?

   Model answer

   Unsafe food causes illness on a population scale and can spread across borders through trade. Foodborne disease also strains health services and holds back economic development.

4. 4

   Explain how unsafe food and malnutrition form a vicious cycle.

   Model answer

   Repeated diarrhoeal infections stop the body absorbing nutrients properly. Malnourished children are then more vulnerable to further infection.

5. 5

   Name the WHO's Five Keys to Safer Food.

   Model answer

   The first three keys are keep clean, separate raw and cooked, and cook thoroughly. The last two are keep food at safe temperatures and use safe water and raw materials.

6. 6

   What economic cost of unsafe food did the World Bank estimate in 2019?

   Model answer

   The World Bank estimated that unsafe food costs low- and middle-income countries about US$110 billion a year. The figure covers lost productivity and medical expenses.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Food Safety Through the Food Chain revision questions

What does Food Safety Through the Food Chain cover in CCEA A-Level Nutrition and Food Science?

6 subtopics: who and shared responsibility for food safety, animal and plant health risks, the food standards agency and daera, gmp, quality assurance standards and traceability, haccp in food-serving establishments and hygiene ratings, food law inspections and ehps. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Food Safety Through the Food Chain organised?

By the CCEA 3310 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.