Abstract
This review summarizes the safety and security of food products from the perspective of the essential qualities of foods. Food products can be defined as containing health-promoting components and are suitable for safe human consumption through cooking and processing. The purpose of people eating foods is to live a healthy life and to function as an organism. Food products, however, are not always safe for human consumption initially. Plants and animals which are used as ingredients in food products live, similar to human beings and function as organisms. They do all kinds of things to survive as organisms, and one of the tools for their survival is natural toxins that are naturally produced by living organisms. Plants and animals protect themselves from their enemies and predators by producing various natural toxins. We should understand that foods are fundamentally built on this characteristic that organisms inherently have. The safety and security of foods are based on a risk balance between nutrition and toxicity. Overconsumption of nutrients may cause many lifestyle-related diseases. Over a long period of human history, human beings have cleverly used their brains to improve the volume and safety of foods.
Currently, Japanese food is once again increasingly appreciated around the world. Japanese ancestors combined a broad range of ingredients and created a diet balanced between nutrition and toxicity. This is clearly wisdom from the past, and I can’t help but be impressed with the wisdom of our ancestors. I hope that many people view the safety and security of food products from the standpoint of the essential qualities of foods.
