In the last five years there has been a change in the public perception of food safety, including the legal responsibility and regulatory philosophy in the United States.
Information continues to be the critical food safety problem.
Pathogens cannot be seen with the naked eye, so the public cannot readily detect the safety of meals, foods, or ingredients purchased anywhere along the food continuum. The ability to link human illness with foodborne pathogens also is difficult. Thus, the majority of foodborne illness cases are unreported. The complexity of food safety from farm to table requires many types of scientific expertise to design sensible public and private interventions. With encouragement of producer organizations, governmental employees, scientists, and public interest groups, the CAST Board of Directors authorized an update of the 15 recommendations from the original report.