Organic Foods vs. Conventional Foods: Concerns about Food Safety

Abstract

Food safety is one of the most important quality requirements due to possible health risks. Legislations and regulations for food safety are in place nationally and internationally. Possible physical, chemical and biological hazards throughout all processes from farm to table negatively affect food safety. Main compounds that jeopardize food safety include pesticides, nitrites and nitrates, heavy metals, mycotoxins, antibiotics, microbiological contaminants and environmental pollutants. Moreover, the recent food crises made consumers increasingly concerned about food safety and health risks. These concerns led to increased consumer demand for organic foods over time. In turn, this increased demand highlighted the importance of revealing the differences between organic foods and conventional foods. In this chapter, the issue of food safety regarding organic foods and conventional foods is discussed in-depth, and some compounds that jeopardize food safety were examined.