What exactly is Food Contamination?
Food contamination is generally defined as foods that are spoiled or tainted because they either contain microorganisms, such as bacteria or parasites, or toxic substances that make them unfit for consumption.
Is Food Contamination a serious issue?
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized food contamination as a global challenge in several documents and reports. It is clearly acknowledged in a statement: “food contamination that occurs in one place may affect the health of consumers living on the other side of the planet. In fact, a vast majority of people experience a foodborne or waterborne disease at some point in their lives worldwide. Therefore, consumption of contaminated foods causes illness in millions of people and many die as a result of it. This scenario makes “food contamination” a serious issue.
Types of Food Contamination
A food contaminant can be biological, chemical or physical in nature, with the former being more common. Here are four main types of contamination:
- Chemical - Fertilizers, Pesticides, heavy metals, and other alien chemical agents.
- Microbial - Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium botulinum, perfrigens, Pathogenic Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholera, V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus and Yersinia enterocolitica are common bacterial hazards (a type of biological contaminant)
- Physical - Types of physical contaminants that can be found in food include jewellery, hair, plastic, bones, stones, pest bodies, and cloth.
- Allergenic - gluten, peanuts, eggs, mustard, soy, fish and thereof.
All food is at risk of contamination from these four types. This is why food handlers have a legal responsibility to ensure that the food they prepare is free from these contaminants and safe for the consumer.
Our contaminants testing service can determine trace levels of contaminants like:
- Melamine
- Heavy Metals
- Dioxins
- Pesticide residues
- GMO
- Mycotoxins
The Eurofins Advantage
- Competence Centres with state-of-the-art equipment such as high-resolution GC, HPLCs, GCMSMS, FTIR, ELISA, HR-MS, GC-MS, HPLC, LC-MS/MS, ICP-MS, Real-time PCR and NMR systems
- Fast turn-around time (TAT)
- Local contact with a Global Network
- Participation in industry associations and regulatory bodies allowing early advice on potential food scares and legal obligations
- Expert advice - testing schemes, on-site-check for hygiene and allergens, labelling advice and traceability
- Results you can rely on
- International presence
