Reference information. Quality of food items is a complex of characteristics describing the food’s nutritional value and safety

Term descriptions

QUALITY OF FOOD ITEMS is a complex of characteristics describing the food’s nutritional value and safety. If the food item meets the hygienic requirements, it can contribute to satisfying the physiological need for nutritive and energy without any detriment to health.

BABY FOOD is referred to as special foodstuffs which meet the physiological requirements of a baby´ s organism.

DIETARY PRODUCTS are special foodstuffs used in preventive or clinical nutrition.

CERTIFICATE OF QUALITY is a document in which the manufacturer confirms the origin of the food and ensures that it corresponds to the requirements of standardizing and technical documentation.

SAFETY OF FOODSTUFFS means absence of factors which may endanger the life and/or health of people of the present and future generations. The foods are defined to be safe if they meet the requirements imposed on food production, sanitary rules, and hygienic norms.

The composition and properties of foodstuffs, especially their consumer properties and indications for their safe use, are determined according to their organoleptic, physical, chemical, microbiological, parasitic and radiological properties as well as according to their nutritional value.

Organoleptic properties of raw materials and cooked foods are determined according to their taste, colour, smell, consistency and appearance that are peculiar to each product. Organoleptic properties should satisfy traditional tastes and eating habits of the population and should not cause any complaints on the part of consumers.

The content of basic chemical hazardous substances, such arsenic, cadmium, mercury, copper and zinc, in raw materials and cooked foods should be controlled. The content of mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin B1, desoxynivalenol, zearalenone, T-2 toxine, in vegetables should be also monitored. The content of aflatoxin M1 in milk and dairy products should be limited.

The content of pesticides, such as hexachlorocyclohexane, DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) and its metabolites, in all kinds of raw materials and cooked food, should be monitored as well. The content of veterinary agents and antibiotics used for feeding cattle and poultry, for treating and preventing their diseases must be limited in meat products. No presence of pathogenic or parasitic microorganisms which cause infectious diseases of animals and people is allowed. Nutritional value of products, including the content of basic food substances, such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, macro- and microelements, and the energy value of a product are the basic criteria used in estimation of the quality of raw materials and cooked food.