Food Safety

Nutrition is an important factor in the maintenance of health, normal growth and development of children and adolescents, prevention of diseases, maintaining high availability of the adult population, preservation of active longevity.
Raw materials have not undergone processing, is a collection of various substances - proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, , vitamins and other compounds. The chemical composition of food is due to genetic factors (plant varieties, animal breeds), but to some extent varies depending on the conditions for obtaining raw materials and food processing (chemical composition of the soil, agrochemical and agricultural practices in crop production, forage quality, conditions of farm animals, the technological process and the formulation of the product).
Intensive development of various branches of industry, energy, transportation, and consumer sphere is accompanied by increasing intake of toxic compounds in the soil, water and air. Once in the environment, foreign substances can be included in biogeochemical cycles and gradually accumulate in food products of plant and animal origin, creating a threat to human health (Figure 1).
According to the documents of international organizations in the field of quality and food safety, in particular the Codex Alimentarius, contaminants are considered substances inadvertently contaminating food raw materials and food products at any stage of the product life cycle. These include toxic elements, persistent organic compounds, radionuclides, which have different physical and chemical properties, toxicity, and the ability cumulated in food. Of food contaminants to select a group of mycotoxins - toxic substances of natural origin. They are secondary metabolites of microscopic fungi contaminating raw food. Ingress of foreign substances in the human body are a variety of ways - from the inspired air, water, through the skin, but, according to the World Health Organization, the greatest "contribution" to make a chemical loading food: all of the substances entering the body with food, can accumulate in the respective target organs and under certain conditions have a negative impact on health.
food safety as a factor in maintaining health
by safe food commodities and food products means a series of properties in which they are not harmful and do not pose a risk to the life and health of present and future generations, under normal conditions of use.
toxic substances present in the environment and, in particular, food contamination can cause certain diseases (such as Minamata disease associated with the consumption of fish, contaminated with organic forms of mercury;-itai disease itai due to the presence in the diet of plant foods that contain large amounts of cadmium, nitrate-nitrite methemoglobinemia in young children, caused by ingestion of food and water of high doses of nitrates and nitrites), or a risk factor for various pathological conditions. Exposure to contaminants of food is in general toxic effects on the body and the appearance of specific and long-term effects (allergic, mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic). Currently defined the role of the individual toxic substances in the development of some forms of cancer, cardiovascular and nervous systems, as well as liver and kidney.
Under current conditions foods contain small amounts of contaminants that are well below the established health standards. However, the effect of modifying certain proven chemical factors of low intensity, causing the nonspecific effects on human health. It is based on a systemic violation of homeostasis, which resulted in an increase in the number and worsening of almost all diseases associated with exposure to both environmental and social factors. Therefore, improving the methodological approach in supervising the performance of food safety, to explore the possible negative effects of low doses of foreign chemicals on health, contribution of food to the overall chemical load - an important scientific and practical problems.
Our country has developed a number of regulatory documents that contain requirements for food safety. They are constantly reviewed and updated as new scientific evidence on the effects of foreign substances on the health, development of food industry, globalization of food trade, improvement of material and technical equipment of the laboratories of sanitary-epidemiological service of the Republic, the development of modern high-sensitivity methods. Maintaining safety monitoring of food raw materials and products by bodies and institutions in the public health surveillance of Belarus. Studies to determine the regulated contaminants carried out in all stages of production of food - in the formulation of production (for domestic products) and imported into the country (for imported products), at the stage of industrial production (in the framework of public health surveillance and industrial control), and also in its implementation.
legislative, regulatory and logistics monitoring system for food safety in the country has led to a significant improvement in the area under discussion. In recent years, a small number of food samples in excess of health standards for chemical parameters (Fig. 2).

Information technology in the monitoring of safety of food
accumulation and analysis of performance monitoring food safety allow quantitative and qualitative data on levels of contamination and to assess the risk of its impact on public health. However, the collection, storage and processing of large amounts of information - is time consuming and complicated process, so the modern information technology - a key elementetoy system.
There is a world of information and experience in the application software in the field of supervision over the quality of food raw materials and food products. Since the mid 70's. The twentieth century. implementing a program of GEMS / FOOD (Global Environment Monitoring System / Food). This project is an important part of international and national attention to the provision of safe products, substantiation of corrective actions in the field, supervision of food safety and management of food resources. Information and software GEMS / FOOD serves to collect and store information about the levels of contamination of food in different regions of the world and, in particular, in Europe. The main purpose of the program - the automated database levels of contamination of food raw materials and food products in different countries. Analysis of the collected data allows to establish baseline levels of contamination of alien substances, identify trends in this indicator to assess the effectiveness of measures to reduce chemical contamination, to justify the permissible levels of toxic substances.
Data obtained using these information and software tools that show that in European countries in recent decades have seen relatively good situation to reduce chemical contamination of certain types of food and diet as a whole as a result of the prohibition, restriction or reduction of the use of certain toxic substances - number of samples exceeding the criteria established hygienic insignificant. A similar trend, as already noted, there is in the Republic of Belarus. At the same time, the delivery of some contaminants above safe levels with food may occur among certain populations, such as among people in large numbers consuming certain types of products.
in the Russian Federation in the organs and institutions of Rospotrebnadzor for implementing social and health monitoring also widely used in information technology. In par ¬ particular, to develop a standardized program scorecard for monitoring food safety. Development of a database begins at the municipal level, where the main volume on making food contamination levels in the appropriate knowledge base. Further information is sent to the regional level, which provides support for reference registers, analyzes information assets separate territory. Based on these databases formed Federal Information Fund. Application of the above information and the software allows the ranking of individual types of food raw materials and food frequency and level of contamination, assess the dynamics of chemical contamination of food in different areas, to determine the most dangerous toxic substances.
should be noted that the information on food safety is heterogeneous and depends on the model for monitoring these indicators, implemented in the country. In a number of states, including the Republic of Belarus, the system of computer recording levels of food contamination does not apply, although there is some experience in the use of computer workstations to establish research protocols food samples and individual reports. Currently, in accordance with the requirements to be summarizing information about the total number of test samples, the percentage of samples with detection of foreign substances, as well as in excess of permissible levels. But the data are not sufficient to obtain information about the background pollution levels and trends in safety performance and forecast situation.
Application of information technology in the monitoring of food safety will ensure the integrity of the collected information, adaptability to dynamic change and improve the regulatory framework in the area of food safety, the ability to validation and statistical analysis of data arrays, protection and the ability to transfer between users. The information in the database is unified by reference, including the identifying characteristics of the investigated samples of food products in accordance with existing regulations, standard information about the location and time of the survey and sampling, the value of hygienic standards for individual contaminants.
Information forming Information Facility contamination can be used in the development of schemes for monitoring the safety of food products, based on a real situation, characteristic of a particular region, justifying the priority measures to improve food quality and environmental protection. In addition, information about average content of various toxic substances in food is the basis for the development of regional health standards based nutritional chemical load on the human body, and to assess the public health risk.
Thus, information technology is an important part of the monitoring of safety food, allow space-time analysis of data on contamination of food products, to assess the effectiveness of preventive measures, optimize approaches and more efficient use of resources of the institutions that supervise in the field.