Handbook Of Organic Food Safety And Quality

Description:
Due to increasing consumer demand for safe, high quality, ethical foods, the production and consumption of organic food and produce has increased rapidly over the past two decades. In recent years the safety and quality of organic foods has been questioned. If consumer confidence and demand in the industry is to remain high, the safety, quality and health benefits of organic foods must be assured. With its distinguished editor and team of top international contributors, Handbook of organic food safety and quality provides a comprehensive review of the latest research in the area. Part 1 provides an introduction to basic quality and safety with chapters on factors affecting the nutritional quality of foods, quality assurance and consumer expectations. Part 2 discusses the primary quality and safety issues related to the production of organic livestock foods including the effects of feeding regimes and husbandry on dairy products, poultry and pork. Further chapters discuss methods to control and reduce infections and parasites in livestock. Part 3 covers the main quality and safety issues concerning the production of organic crop foods, such as agronomic methods used in crop production and their effects on nutritional and sensory quality, as well as their potential health impacts. The final part of the book focuses on assuring quality and safety throughout the food chain. Chapters focus on post-harvest strategies to reduce contamination of food and produce, and ethical issues such as fair trade products. The final chapters conclude by reviewing quality assurance strategies relating to specific organic food sectors. The Handbook of organic food quality and safety will be a standard reference for professionals and producers within the industry concerned with improving and assuring the quality and safety of organic foods.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Organic food safety and quality: introduction and overview: History and concepts of food quality and safety in organic food production and processing; Nutritional quality of foods; Quality assurance, inspection and certification of organic foods; A new food quality concept based on life processes; Food consumers and organic agriculture. Part 2 Organic livestock foods: Effects of organic and conventional feeding regimes and husbandry methods on the quality of milk and dairy products; Effects of organic husbandry methods and feeding regimes on poultry quality; Effect of organic, husbandry and feeding regimes on pork quality; Organic livestock husbandry methods and the microbiological safety of ruminant; Reducing antibiotic use for mastitis treatment in organic dairy production systems; Reducing anthelmintic use for the control of internal parasites in organic livestock systems; Alternative therapies to reduce enteric bacterial infections and improve the microbiological safety of pig and poultry production systems. Part 3 Organic crop foods: Dietary exposure to pesticides from organic and conventional food production; Levels of potential health impacts of nutritionally relevant phytochemicals in organic and conventional food production systems; Improving the quality and shelf-life of fruit from organic production systems; Strategies to reduce mycotoxins and fungal alkaloid contamination in organic and conventional production systems; Reducing copper-based fungicide use in organic crop production systems; Pre-harvest strategies to ensure the microbiological safety of fruit and vegetables from manure-based production systems. Part 4 The organic food chain: processing, trading and quality assurance: Post-harvest strategies to reduce enteric bacteria contamination of vegetable, nut and fruit products; Fair trade: a basis for adequate producers' incomes, farm reinvestment and quality and safety focussed production; Development of quality assurance protocols to prevent GM-contamination of organic crops; Integration of quality parameters into food safety focused HACCP systems.

Author Biography:
Julia Cooper is a Senior Research Fellow for the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group (NEFG) in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AFRD) at Newcastle University, UK. Carlo Leifert is Professor of Ecological Agriculture, NEFG group leader and Director of the Stockbridge Technology Centre (STC) at Newcastle University, UK. Urs Niggli is Director of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Switzerland. Many of the authors that have contributed to the book are partners or collaborators in the EU integrated project QualityLowInputFood (FP6-2002-Food-1-506358) and a range of chapters report results from the project.