Food quality 

is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers. This includes

external factors as appearance (size, shape, colour, gloss, and consistency), texture, and flavour;
factors such as federal grade standards (e.g. of eggs) and internal (chemical, physical, microbial).
Food quality in the United States is enforced by the Food Safety Act 1990. Members of the public
complain to trading standards professionals[specify], who submit complaint samples and also samples
used to routinely monitor the food marketplace to public analysts. Public analysts carry out scientific
analysis on the samples to determine whether the quality is of sufficient standard.
Food quality is an important food manufacturing requirement, because food consumers are
susceptible to any form of contamination that may occur during the manufacturing process. Many
consumers also rely on manufacturing and processing standards, particularly to know what
ingredients are present, due to dietary, nutritional requirements (kosher, halal, vegetarian), or
medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, or allergies).
Besides ingredient quality, there are also sanitation requirements. It is important to ensure that the
food processing environment is as clean as possible in order to produce the safest possible food for
the consumer. A recent example of poor sanitation recently has been the 2006 North American E.
coli outbreak involving spinach, an outbreak that is still under investigation.
Food quality also deals with product traceability, (e.g., of ingredient, and packaging suppliers),
should a recall of the product be required. It also deals with labeling issues to ensure there is correct
ingredient and nutritional information.
There are many existing international quality institutes testing food products in order to indicate to all
consumers which are higher quality products. Founded in 1961 in Brussels, The international Monde
Selection quality award is the oldest[1] in evaluating food quality.[2] During the degustations, the
products must meet the following selection criteria, required by the Institute: sensory analysis,
bacteriological and chemical analysis, the nutrition and health claims, and the utilisation notice. In
short, the judgements are based on the following areas: taste, health, convenience, labelling,
packaging, environmental friendliness and innovation.[3] As many consumers rely on manufacturing
and processing standards, the Institute Monde Selection takes into account the European Food Law.
[3]

Food prices refer to the (averaged) price level for food in particular countries or regions or on a

global scale. The food industry's contribution to the price levels and fluctuations come from the food
production process, food marketing and food distribution. Source of uncontrollable price
fluctuations are varying crop yield from excess supply to harvest failure and food
speculation activities. It is speculated that already the global climate change could be a major factor
behind rising food prices.[1] A continuing drought in South Africa[2] may - amongst other factors -
have food inflation soar 11% until end of 2016 according to the South African Reserve Bank.[3] To a
certain extent, adverse price trends can be counteracted by food politics. When food commodities
become too expensive on the world market, food security is in danger especially for developing
countries. In keeping with the supply and demand-principle, global prices will on average continue to
rise with the growing world population.

Contents
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 1Global differences
 2Data sources
o 2.1Numbeo
o 2.2FAO food price index
 o 2.3World bank food price watch
 3See also
 4References
 5Literature
 6External links