ABSTRACT
Everyone must eat to survive, and safe food is a basic human right. It is paradox ical that when science and technology have eliminated some major infectious dis eases, gastrointestinal infections constitute a growing problem worldwide (7). While some enteric disease may be transmitted directly from person to person, those involving food are also a major concern (2, 7). People may accept foodbome illness if they themselves are responsible as a result of poor home food prepara tion, but if they become ill as a result of eating at catering establishments of vari ous types, their level of “outrage” increases. This outrage may then be directed, sometimes with the help of the mass media, toward the catering industry, the food manufacturing industry, or even governments. The degree of outrage felt is im portant in claims for compensation and in how consumers perceive risk. With an identified upward trend in notifications, in many countries, the avoidance of food bome illness is a topical subject of debate (2, 24). What is clear is that all partici pants in the food chain have a role to play (Fig. 1).
