La sécurité sanitaire des aliments, des temps passés à nos jours.

Abstract

The way in which different human populations selected the quality of their food is reviewed from Antiquity to present times. The first rules, prohibited the consumption of the meat of certain animal species (e.g. pork). In Europe, under Roman rule and later, inspection was under the responsibility of local civil authorities. Food was examined by special (elected) teams of professionals. The criteria used to select animal products that were fit for consumption were based on their external aspect. Those considered to be dangerous' were condemned and thrown into the river. The scientific basis of food inspection was not firmly established until the 20th century, Based on modern techniques, it dramatically reduced the number of fatal food poisoning cases throughout the developed world. Nevertheless, these figures has remained unchanged or even increased over the past decades. This is probably due to the fact that resistance to food poisaring is weakened in some categories of the human population or that the selection of some pathogens is facilitated by new techniques of animal feeding, or food processing and conservation

The way in which different human populations selected the quality of their food is reviewed from Antiquity to present times. The first rules, prohibited the consumption of the meat of certain animal species (e.g. pork). In Europe, under Roman rule and later, inspection was under the responsibility of local civil authorities. Food was examined by special (elected) teams of professionals. The criteria used to select animal products that were fit for consumption were based on their external aspect. Those considered to be 'dangerous' were condemned and thrown into the river. The scientific basis of food inspection was not firmly established until the 20th century. Based on modern techniques, it dramatically reduced the number of fatal food poisoning cases throughout the developed world. Nevertheless, these figures has remained unchanged or even increased over the past decades. This is probably due to the fact that resistance to food poisoning is weakened in some categories of the human population or that the selection of some pathogens is facilitated by new techniques of animal feeding, or food processing and conservation.