Ensuring and promoting food safety during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese authorities undertook a range of measures to strengthen food safety along the entire food supply continuum from production to consumption to protect the large number of athletes and spectators anticipated. In addition, food safety promotion campaigns targeting Olympic visitors as well as Beijing residents were carried out. Based on an assessment of various indicators, these efforts were successful in reducing the risk of foodborne disease during the Beijing Olympics and promoting safer food for Beijing residents. The food safety experiences of the 2008 Beijing Olympics might be usefully applied to major sporting events and mass gatherings in the future.

The role of whistleblowers in protecting the safety and integrity of the food supply.

The unsafe, illegal, and unethical practices, especially food fraud, by various actors along the food supply chain are old problems that have been made even more challenging by today's international agri-food network. To combat these practices, the internal reporting to upper management or the external disclosure to regulators or media by persons who become aware of such practices is essential. These persons are colloquially known as whistleblowers. However, a number of impediments to whistleblowing, especially retribution by employers, have limited their contribution to ensuring the safety and integrity of the food supply. This paper presents recent examples of whistleblowing and legislation adopted by countries around the world to encourage and protect whistleblowers, especially from retaliation. Several impediments to whistleblowing are described and suggestions for overcoming them are proposed.

Global perspectives in breast milk contamination: infectious and toxic hazards.

Breast milk is the natural and optimal food for infants. In addition to meeting nutritional needs, breast milk provides numerous immunologic, developmental, psychologic, economic, and practical advantages. It is postulated that breast-feeding may also be related to the prevention of some adult health problems such as diabetes and coronary heart disease. Malnutrition among infants and young children, which remains one of the most severe global public health problems, is among the main reasons that the World Health Organization (WHO) so strongly supports breast-feeding. However, WHO recognizes the growing concern expressed by scientists, health professionals, environmentalists, and mothers about the potential risks posed by the presence of toxicants and infectious agents in breast milk. In this paper we review the main infectious hazards (tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and human immunodeficiency virus) and selected chemical hazards (tobacco, persistent contaminants) and the activities undertaken by WHO. We conclude that in cases where there is a high degree of pollution from chemical sources occurring simultaneously in a bacterially contaminated environment, the choice is not simply between polluted breast milk and risk-free substitutes. Rather, informed choice is based on assessing the known and unknown risks of artificial feeding versus the unknown, but potential, risks of chemical contamination of breast milk. Clearly, the possible toxicity of compounds requires further investigation. Of much greater importance, however, are effective measures to protect the environment for the entire population by controlling the use of these toxic products. Current scientific evidence does not support altering WHO's global public health recommendation of exclusive breast-feeding for 6 months followed by safe and appropriate complementary foods, with continued breast-feeding, up to 2 years of age or beyond.