Food Quality Control: History, Present and Future

Food is any substance which when consumed provides nutritional support for the body. It may be of plant or animal origin, containing the known five essential nutrients namely, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Usually after consumption, food undergoes different metabolic processes that eventually lead to the production of energy, maintenance of life, and/or stimulation of growth (Aguilera 1999). The history of early man shows that, people obtained food substances through hunting, gathering, and agriculture. The assurance and protection of food quality has always been important to man. This is evident from the fact that, one of the earliest laws known to man was that of Food. Right from the Garden of Eden, there was a law guiding the consumption of food. In our time too, governments over many centuries have endeavoured to provide for the safety and wholesomeness of man’s food by legal provisions, (Alsberg 1970; Jango-Cohen 2005). In spite of these provisions, adulteration of foods has increased and the detection of these adulterants has proved more difficult, essentially because of the sophisticated methods being used in the adulteration. The birth of modern chemistry in the early nineteenth century made possible the production of materials possessing properties similar to normal foods which, when fraudulently used, did not readily attract the attention of the unsuspecting consumer. However, modern analytical techniques are now available to detect adulterants in foods. In this modern age, most of the food consumed by man and animals alike is supplied by the food industry. The food industry is operated at different levels by either local, national or multinational corporations, that use either subsistence or intensive farming and industrial agriculture to maximize output. Whichever applies the importance of ensuring the quality of food and food products from the food industry cannot be over emphasized. In this chapter, we look at past and present attempts by scientists, individuals and/or governments to control food quality and prospect what the future might be.