Principles of Food Toxicology

While food is an essential source of energy, nutrients, building materials, and even pleasure, it also contains compounds that can potentially evoke greater or lesser health disorders. Toxins can originate from the raw materials or invade during processing, transportation, and storage. They can be intentionally added in the form of “harmless” food preservatives or health-promoting functional ingredients that can become toxic in combination or under environmental stressors. The continuous physical and biochemical processes that food undergoes indicate that there is always the chance for toxicity in even the most innocuous foods.