ABSTRACT
While contamination of food with microbial pathogens may be the primary cause of most food poisoning incidences, chemical food safety is of critical importance. Both in the past and in recent times there are examples of incidences of food toxicity, due to chemical contamination, causing either chronic or acute toxic effects for humans. Examples of such toxic effects include the observed precocious sexual development observed in children in Italy and Puerto Rico, related to oestrogenic substances in food (Loizzo et al, 1983; Comas, 1982; De Rodriguez and Toro-Sola, 1982; Schoental, 1983), and the acute toxicity observed in consumers in Spain and France, related to the presence of high levels of the p-agonist clenbuterol in liver (Martinez-Navarro, 1990; Pulce et al, 1991). Apart from these examples, there are others related to the presence of heavy metals, mycotoxins, agrochemicals, veterinary drugs and industrial/environmental contaminants in foods.
