ADA supports the need for continued communication regarding food and water safety from government agencies and the food industry. The ADA also supports increased research regarding food and water safety issues, public education on food and water safety, legislative changes to ensure a safe and adequate food supply, and development of disease-resistant strains and alternative approaches to pest control.

Concern is expressed about 2 recent decisions on protective additives to flour and drinking water in the British Isles. The first, a joint proposal by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the Department of Health, stated that the fortification and restoration of flour with certain minerals (iron and calcium) and vitamins (thiamin and nicotinic acid) would no longer be compulsory. The second was a recent court ruling in Scotland (also the topic of a pending test case in England) that it was beyond the power of a local authority to add fluorine to the water supply. The potential danger to human health in these 2 instances is discussed in light of recent findings. (wz)

US government was the first to introduce Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, the system that had a tremendous impact on everybody's life starting from the food and packaging companies up to consumer themselves. The rest of the nations simply followed US approach with a considerable delay both in terms of legislation and implementation. In the case of genetically modified (GM) or genetically engineered foods, the situation was entirely different. United States benefited from the 'dubious', and definitely not proved, 'substantial equivalence' principle invoked as the most practical approach to assess the safety of GM foods and food ingredients. US legislation appeared to be considerably more lenient than the European Union. The latter required many more analyses and labelling of GM food or food components. In this article, an update is attempted of the entire US legislation falling in fields like food safety, food technology, GM foods and finally legislation referring to specific foods (animal origin - meat, poultry, fish, dairy; and agricultural produces - vegetables, fruits) and water quality by means of fourteen comprehensive tables.