ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 deals with global health threats posed by unsafe foods potentially endangering consumers. Infants, young children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with an underlying illness are particularly vulnerable as unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of diarrhoea and malnutrition, threatening the nutritional status and health of the most vulnerable. Particular consideration is given in this chapter to the activity of WHO in monitoring since a long time worldwide foodborne illnesses and their causes. Therefore, detailed consideration is given to data reported in the 2015 WHO report on the estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases caused by 31 foodborne agents at worldwide and regional level, including (i) naturally occurring toxins, persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals; (ii) bacterial agents such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, Listeria and Vibrio cholerae; and (iii) viral agents and parasites. Detailed consideration has been given to prions associated with specific forms of neurodegenerative diseases (spongiform encephalopathy) and to the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) discovery and evolution, geographical risk assessment and control measure.
