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Article: Food-Borne Diseases
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FOOD-BORNE DISEASES
Defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as diseases "of an infectious or toxic nature caused by, or thought to be caused by, the consumption of food or water," food-borne diseases are an important cause of morbidity and economic loss worldwide. Countries that keep statistics (usually industrialized countries), may record tens of thousands of cases annually, but it is acknowledged that only a small proportion are reported centrally (see Table 1). A study in the early 1990s in England, for example, reported that only one in 136 cases of infectious intestinal diseases was recorded.
CAUSES OF FOOD-BORNE DISEASES
The agents that cause food-borne diseases include ...