## 4 Food and Fish Safety  
Food safety is defined as the guarantee that food will not cause harm to the consumer when prepared and/or consumed [5,15]. The safety of food can be compromised at any stage of the food chain due to contamination by biological, chemical, and/or physical agents, generating a risk of illness for the consumer [15]. Foodborne diseases are considered an important public health problem due to their impact on millions of people around the world [1,5,16], their negative socioeconomic impact due to the decrease in productivity, their impact on trade in food products, and their imposition of a substantial burden on health systems due to expenses for hospitalizations and medications [5,16]. More than 250 diseases are transmitted through food and their incidence has increased considerably in recent decades due to factors such as the globalization of the food market, changes in eating habits, as well as the emergence of new forms of transmission in vulnerable population groups, and the increase in antimicrobial resistance due to causal agents [5]. Fish and fish products are foods that are very susceptible to spoilage and contamination by various physical, biological, and chemical hazards at any point in the food chain (Table 2) [1,4,17,18], so the application of appropriate handling, hygiene, and preservation practices and conditions from capture or harvest to the consumer's table becomes essential [1,4,7,17]. Otherwise, these may become products that are not suitable for consumption and may pose a health risk as their safety is compromised due to contamination, growth of microorganisms, chemical and/or autolytic changes [4]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Compound**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Fillet Fish**} \\ \cline{2-4}  & **Minimum \%** & **Normal \%** & **Maximum \%** \\ \hline Proteins & 6 & 16–21 & 28 \\ \hline Lipids & 0.1 & 0.2–25 & 67 \\ \hline Carbohydrates & & \textless{}0.5 & \\ \hline Ashes & 0.4 & 1.2–1.5 & 1.5 \\ \hline Water & 28 & 66–81 & 96 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Chemical composition of fish [8,11]. Fish and products have been associated with outbreaks of diseases due to consumption, where frequently the causal agents are of biological origin (bacteria, viruses, and parasites) and chemical origin (biotoxins and biogenic amines) [18; 29; 30; 31; 32]. It has been pointed out that the risk of illness from consuming fish is high when it is ingested in a fresh and raw state, either in gastronomic preparations such as evciche, sushi, and sashimi, among others, or when it has been previously subjected to inadequate hygienic processes and conditions during handling and cooking [17; 22; 23]. Finally, the consumption of dry, dry-salted, dry-smoked, fresh, and frozen products consumed after being subjected to an adequate cooking process is of low risk to health [17]. Currently, in regions of the world such as the European Union and the European Economic Area, it has been reported that the presence and persistence of various microbiological hazards are of interest for public health. In environments of production and processing of foods of aquatic origin, some of these hazards are bacteria such as _C. botulinum_, _C. perfringens_, _B. cereus_, _pathogenic E. coli_, _Campylobacter_ spp._, _L. monocytogenes_, _Vibrio parahaemolyticus_ and _S. enterica_, emphasizing that the latter three are associated with a great number of hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne disease outbreaks [33]. Microbiology and Safety of Fish  
Aquatic organisms have microbiota dependent on environmental conditions and those existing in the waters where they live [34]. Fish have microorganisms in their digestive tract, gills, and skin; their proportions vary between \(10^{3}\)-\(10^{9}\) CFU/g and \(10^{2}\)-\(10^{7}\) CFU/cm\({}^{2}\), respectively [8].