Audit. A systematic and functionally independent examination to determine whether activities and related results comply with planned official certification bodies, or officially recognized certification bodies, provide written or equivalent assurance that foods or food control systems conform to requirements. Certification of food may be, as appropriate, based on a range of inspection activities which may include continuous on-line inspection, auditing of quality assurance systems and examination of finished products. {CA} [Audits and inspections are often confused. An audit is a routine control of compliance with standards, while an inspection is usually "for cause" - ie a likely breach of health or safety standards has been detected and is being investigated.]

Food handler. Any person who directly handles packaged or unpackaged food, food equipment and utensils, or food contact surfaces and is therefore expected to comply with food hygiene requirements. {CA}

Food hygiene. All conditions and measures necessary to ensure the safety and suitability of food at all stages of the food chain.

Flow diagram. A systematic representation of the sequence of steps or operations used in the production or manufacture of a particular food item.

Food Safety. The assurance that food will not cause harm to the consumer when it is prepared and / or eaten according to its intended use.

Food Suitability. The assurance that food is acceptable for human consumption according to its intended use.

Genetically engineered/modified organisms. The following provisional definition is provided {by CA} for genetically/modified organisms.^. Genetically engineered/modified organisms, and products thereof, are produced through techniques in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. [In the UK in general, and in London in particular, elective officials, such as the Mayor of London, have opposed the use of genetically modified materials in any part of the food chain. The UK national government is considering allowing farmers to grow GMO crops in secret.]

Good Practice in the Use of Veterinary Drugs (GPVD). Is the official recommended or authorized usage including withdrawal periods, approved by national authorities, of veterinary drugs under practical conditions.

Hazard Characterisation. The quantitative and or qualitative evaluation of the nature of the adverse effects associated with biological, chemical and physical agents, which may be present in food. For chemical agents, a dose - response assessment should be performed. For biological or physical agents, a dose -response assessment should be performed if the data are obtainable.

Hazard Identification.  The identification of biological, chemical, and physical agents capable of causing adverse health effects and which may be present in a particular food or group of foods. {CA}

Ingredient. Any substance, including a food additive, used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and present in the final product although possibly in a modified form. {CA}

Marker Residue. A residue whose concentration decreases in a known relationship to the level of total residues in tissues, eggs, milk or other animal tissues. A specific quantitative analytical method for measuring the concentration of the residue with the required sensitivity must be available.

Marketing. Holding for sale or displaying for sale, offering for sale, selling, delivering or placing on the market in any other form. {CA}

Maximum Residue Limit for Veterinary Drugs (MRLVD). Is the maximum concentration of residue resulting from the use of a veterinary drug (expressed in mg/kg or mg/kg on a fresh weight basis) that is recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission to be legally permitted or recognized as acceptable in or on a food. It is based on the type and amount of residue considered to be without any toxicological hazard for human health as expressed by the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), or on the basis of a temporary ADI that utilizes an additional safety factor. It also takes into account other relevant public health risks as well as food technological aspects. When establishing an MRL, consideration is also given to residues that occur in food of plant origin and/or the environment. Furthermore, the MRL may be reduced to be consistent with good practices in the use of veterinary drugs and to the extent that practical analytical methods are available.

Meat. The edible part of any mammal.

Microbiological Criterion.   A microbiological criterion for food defines the acceptability of a product or a food lot, based on the absence or presence, or number of microorganisms including parasites, and/or quantity of their toxins/metabolites, per unit(s) of mass, volume, area or lot. {CA}

Milk. Exclusively the normal mammary secretion obtained from one or more milkings without either addition thereto or extraction therefrom. The term may be used for milk treated without altering its composition, or for milk the fat content of which has been standardized under domestic legislation. The term may also be used in association with a word or words to designate the type, grade, origin and/or intended use of such milk or to describe the physical treatment or the modification of composition to which it has been subjected, provided that the modification is restricted to an addition and/or withdrawal of natural milk constituents. In international trade, the origin of the milk shall be stated if it is not bovine.

Monitor. The act of conducting a planned sequence of observations or measurements of control parameters to assess whether a CCP is under control. {CA}

Muscle. Muscle tissue only

Non-Extractable Residues. These residues are obtained by subtracting the extractable residues from the total residues and comprise:

1. Residues of the drug incorporated through normal metabolic pathways into endogenous compounds (e.g. amino acids, proteins, nucleic acid). These residues are of no toxicological concern.
2. Chemically-bound residues derived by interaction of residues of parent drug or its metabolites with macromolecules. These residues may be of toxicological concern.

Official accreditation. The procedure by which a government agency having jurisdiction formally recognizes the competence of an inspection and/or certification body to provide inspection and certification services. For organic production the competent authority may delegate the accreditation function to a private body. {CA}

Officially recognized inspection systems/officially recognized certification systems. Systems which have been formally approved or recognized by a government agency having jurisdiction. {CA}

Physical Hazard. A physical hazard is any extraneous object or foreign matter in a food item, which may cause illness or injury to a person consuming the product.

Plant protection product. Any substance intended for preventing, destroying, attracting, repelling, or controlling any pest or disease including unwanted species of plants or animals during the production, storage, transport, distribution and processing of food, agricultural commodities, or animal feeds. [Also known as pesticides.]

Preparation. The operations of slaughtering, processing, preserving and packaging of agricultural products and also alterations made to the labelling concerning the presentation of the organic production method. {CA}

Primary production. Those steps in the food chain up to and including, for example, harvesting, slaughter, milking, fishing. {CA} [In the "earth to earth" model, primary production is seen as one (the first) of the seven phases].

Production. The operations undertaken to supply agricultural products in the state in which they occur on the farm, including initial packaging and labelling of the product. {CA}

Prepackaged. Packaged or made up in advance in a container, ready for offer to the consumer, or for catering purposes. {CA}

Processing Aid. A substance or material, not including apparatus or utensils, and not consumed as a food ingredient by itself, intentionally used in the processing of raw materials, foods or its ingredients, to fulfil a certain technological purpose during treatment or processing and which may result in the non-intentional but unavoidable presence of residues or derivatives in the final product. {CA}

Processing Aid. A substance or material, not including apparatus or utensils, and not consumed as a food ingredient by itself, intentionally used in the processing of raw materials, foods or its ingredients, to fulfil a certain technological purpose during treatment or processing and which may result in the non-intentional but unavoidable presence of residues or derivatives in the

final product. {CA}

Qualitative Risk Assessment. A risk assessment based on data which, while forming an inadequate basis for numerical risk estimations, nonetheless, when conditioned by prior expert knowledge and identification of attendant uncertainties permits risk ranking or separation into descriptive categories of risk.

Risk. A function of the probability of an adverse health effect and the severity of that effect, consequential to a hazard(s) in food.

Risk Analysis. A procedure consisting of three components: Risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. [See the "Trinity of Risk" in AFSIS™]

Risk Assessment. A scientifically based process consisting of the following steps: (i) hazard identification, (ii) hazard characterization, (iii) exposure assessment, and (iv) risk characterization.

Risk Characterisation. The process of determining the qualitative and/or quantitative estimation, including attendant uncertainties, of the probability of occurrence and severity of known or potential adverse health effects in a given population based on hazard identification, hazard characterisation and exposure assessment.

Risk Communication. The interactive exchange of information and opinions concerning risk and risk management among risk assessors, risk managers, consumers and other interested parties.

Risk Estimate. Output of risk characterisation.

Risk Management. The process of weighing policy alternatives in the light of the results of risk assessment and, if required, selecting and implementing appropriate control options, including regulatory measures. Control means prevention, elimination, or reduction of hazards and/or minimisation of risks. 

Residues of Veterinary Drugs. Include the parent compounds and/or their metabolites in any edible portion of the animal product, and include residues of associated impurities of the veterinary drug concerned.

Sensitivity analysis. A method used to examine the behavior of a model by measuring the variation in its outputs resulting from changes to its inputs.  {CA}

Step. A point, procedure, operation or stage in the food chain including raw materials, from primary production to final consumption. {CA}

Temporary Acceptable Daily Intake (TADI). Used by JECFA when data are sufficient to conclude that use of the substance is safe over the relatively short period of time required to generate and evaluate further safety data, but are insufficient to conclude that use of the substance is safe over a lifetime. A higher-than-normal safety factor is used when establishing a temporary ADI and an expiration date is established by which time appropriate data to resolve the safety issue should be submitted to JECFA.

Tissue. All edible animal tissue, including muscle and by-products.

Tissue, Control. Tissue from animals not treated with veterinary drugs of the same species, sex, age and physiological status as the target species.

Tissue, Dosed. Tissue from animals of the test species that have been treated with the drug according to its intended use.

Tissue, Spiked or Fortified. Tissue containing known concentrations of the analyte added to the sample of control tissue.

Total Residue. The total residue of a drug in animal derived food consists of the parent drug together with all the metabolites and drug based products that remain in the food after administration of the drug to food producing animals. The amount of total residues is generally determined by means of a study using the radiolabelled drug, and is expressed as the parent drug equivalent in mg/kg of the food.

Transparent. Characteristics of a process where the rationale, the logic of development, constraints, assumptions, value judgements, decisions, limitations and uncertainties of the expressed determination are fully and systematically stated, documented, and accessible for review.

Uncertainty analysis. A method used to estimate the uncertainty associated with model inputs, assumptions and structure/form. {CA}

Validation.  Obtaining evidence that the elements of the HACCP plan are effective. {CA}

Validated Method. An analytical method which has been subjected to a multi-laboratory study for accuracy, precision, reproducibility performance and ruggedness. Concise written procedures for sample selection, preparation and quantitative analysis are provided for inter-laboratory quality assurance and consistency of results, on which an appropriate regulatory method of analysis can be established. {CA}

Verification. The application of methods, procedures, tests and other evaluations, in addition to monitoring to determine compliance with the HACCP plan. {CA}

Veterinary drug. Any substance applied or administered to any food-producing animal, such as meat or milk-producing animals, poultry, fish or bees, whether used for therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic purposes or for modification of physiological functions or behaviour. {CA}

Veterinarian Client-Patient Relationship. The relationship is recognized when the livestock enterprise, premises and husbandry practices are known to the veterinarian as a result of a recent professional visit to the site and the veterinarian is available for emergency on site consultation and is responsible for preventative medicine programmes.

Veterinary Drug. Any substance applied or administered to any food-producing animal, such as meat or milk producing animals, poultry, fish or bees, whether used for therapeutic, prophylactic, or diagnostic purposes, or for modification of physiological functions or behaviour.

Withdrawal Time and Withholding Time. The period of time between the last administration of a drug and the collection of edible tissue or products from a treated animal that ensures the contents of residues in food comply with the maximum residue limit for this veterinary drug (MRLVD).