Food Toxicology and Safety

Decades ago, magnificent discoveries, inventions, and newer versions of technology have made possible the present scenario to be enriched with tremendous applications and advancements in the world of food technology. This chapter focuses on agents that affect human health including mycotoxins and other natural products, and food-borne disease agents and their toxins. The enhancing complexity of food production systems positively influences stakeholders’ concerns about its nutritional quality and efficacy of safety. Conventionally, the most significant reasons for edible foods to be processed are to make them with enhanced shelf life and last the longest without deteriorating and to improve their organoleptic characteristics. Processing is also often intended to add nutritional value, improve the final appearance, enhance the rate of consumption, and decrease the time of preparation of food at home. Food toxicology in the better sense is the correlation between various elements of foods and risks possibly associated with health. Enormous procedural aspects and techniques can be applied including analysis of in vitro and in vivo studies, exposure assessments, epidemiological studies, and defined mathematical models for risk analysis and risk assessment. Ultimately, the fundamental aim of food toxicology is to explore scientific data and apply it to ensure food safety. Consumers also consider food safety to be one of the most important aspects which needs to be addressed with complete clarity.