The second edition of Food Safety and Quality Assurance is a basic reference for veterinarians, extension specialists, and others who help food-animal producers throughout the food chain to provide a safe product to consumers. The assurance of safety and quality must start with the producer. Professionals providing specialized expertise to the producer must be familiar with modern production practices in order to identify activities that may have an adverse effect on safety and quality; must be knowledgeable about microbial and nonmicrobial agents that reduce the marketability of the product and produce disease in the consumer; and must be familiar with modern processing techniques for foods of animal origin to understand the scientific basis for the inspection procedures required by regulatory agencies. This greatly expanded edition provides this information and includes a chapter analyzing the social and political context for the development of food safety and quality assurance inspection of foods of animal origin. Also new to this edition is its examination of egg production, in addition to red meat, poultry, milk, and fish, as well as its coverage of risk assessment and safe food handling at home. The second edition goes beyond North America in scope. As economic trade barriers fall and new trading groups are forged by governments, it is becoming increasingly important to understand food issues, both regulatory and biological, from a global perspective.