Safety of Food throughout the Supply Chain

Today, in addition to food security, food safety is very important, because one of the prominent causes of increasing diseases is changing people's eating habits and lack of food safety along the food chain. Vegetables and fruits, in all stages of the food supply chain, are contaminated with a variety of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasites. The prevalence of many diseases has been recorded in the past as a result of eating fruits and vegetables. The results of extensive research conducted in this field around the world were used in this chapter, and melon is discussed in detail as an example. Research findings show that pathogens that lodge in the skin of melon can enter the melon flesh when cut and infect it. Similarly, in hot climates, the bacteria Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli multiply easily in melon flesh at low pH and soon reach pathogenic doses. Therefore, appropriate hygiene measures should be considered along the food chain. These hygiene measures are considered very important from the perspective that very small contamination by campylobacter, Escherichia coli, and norovirus, for example, can cause a major health problem. Highly vulnerable people include pregnant women, young children, the elderly, and the sick.