FOOD priorities have changed dramatically.

"Yesterday, the aim was to preserve food to keep it as wholesome as possible and free from contamination. Today, we seek convenience, nutritive quality and environmental protection. Consumers expect food to be varied, sophisticated, in individual portions and ready to eat."

That is the view of Daniel Berger, director general of the European Food Information Council. But nature, as always, rarely gives a free lunch and has responded in its own way to the new emphasis. New pathogens have emerged to spoil new products and exploit new eating trends.

They frequently infect consumers and occasionally kill. There is strong evidence, however, that preparation methods and consumer preference mean the risks are greater than in the past. This is despite revolutionary improvements in food technology which have facilitated advances in processing and packaging and created an enticing new generation of products.

The latest World Health Organisation warning confirms both changing trends and new risks. It warns of further increases in lifethreatening, food borne infection caused by E coli 0157, a bug that has only been associated with food since 1982. WHO confirms evidence of person to person infection and of transmission through contact with animals, although contaminated beef is to blame in most cases - hence its name, the hamburger bug.

More people are becoming sick from food generally, because of changing eating habits in favour of prepared foods from supermarkets, takeaways and unprocessed health food. WHO food safety official Fritz Kaferstein says there is "a need for new prevention and control guidelines for ready to eat products including fresh vegetables". Fermented sausages, yoghurt, mayonnaise and fruit juices have been the latest source of E coli 0157 outbreaks.

The need in Ireland for new food guidelines, improved disease surveillance and greater monitoring of processing and food handlers in response to new threats is strongly advocated by Dr Mary Upton, lecturer in food microbiology at UCD.

Training of personnel in handling of food, particularly raw food, should be made mandatory, she says. So much so, that nobody would be allowed set up a food business without appropriate training. "And I mean everybody down to those making the sandwiches," Dr Upton stresses.

Those involved in traditional or cottage food industries may dread what they would perceive as more bureaucracy. But food risks permeate the food chain fully, and while the EU is demanding stricter standards, it has moved to protect speciality foods, such as Connemara lamb or Clonakilty black pudding, under a special register - no Irish product has availed of the register yet.

Dissemination of food information is critical to control of the risks and should be taken on by the new Food Safety Authority, says Dr Upton. This is especially relevant for smaller producers which might not have the same technical expertise as bigger processors.

IT seems incredible that pensioners sitting down to a dinner of steak pie at Wishaw Old Parish church in Scotland last November could be made ill with such devastation by contaminated food; 19 died as a direct consequence. But such is the potency of E coli 0157 - and food microbiology experts say the potential for a similar outbreak in the Republic is equally strong.

Yet, Dr Upton believes people seem to be a lot more agitated about BSE. "E coli 0157 is potentially a lot more threatening. There is tangible evidence of this with more than 19 deaths in Scotland, a large number of outbreaks in the US and a death in Ireland, though it may not be food related."

Why E coli 0157 should be so prominent now is hard to establish. It may have surfaced after the transfer of genetic information from sbigella bacteria to the E coli, because their respective toxins poisons produced by the bug are identical. It could be a natural event, Dr Upton says. It's unlikely that new food production methods or eating habits were responsible.

We are, nonetheless, eating a lot more "hamburger type food" which can harbour the bug. When a slab of meat such as a steak or roast is cooked normally, it easily kills E coli (cooking at 70 degrees Celsius for two minutes is advised). But take the same piece of meat and mince it, making a hamburger, and the E coli towards the centre may survive.

Only a small number of bugs is required for infection. Reaching the 70 degrees Celsius on the surface is easy but getting into the centre of a fairly thick burger is a different story". The food safety message on that score is "cook until brown in the middle".

The risks may be considerable but it is still possible to control the bug by surveillance to establish its level in the population and the food chain; maintaining research on bow the bug behaves, information programmes, concentrating education and training on butchers and those who handle both raw and cooked meat, but maintaining the focus right down to the person who cooks at home.

Increased reporting of food illness accounts for some of the higher incidence. A move to mass production with longer distribution chains is another factor. Then there is the desire for less additives and long life products, which brings new risks, Dr Upton notes. I like to go shopping on a Saturday morning and live with that for the rest of the week."

In the past we ate on the same day of purchase. Further back in time, we ate on the same day of harvesting. "You went down to the garden, picked a head of cabbage and ate it later that day."

With the change in eating habits came listeria. It exploits widespread use of chilled food and causes serious illness for people with weakened immune systems, such as the elderly or newborn babies. It was not considered significant 10 years ago; likewise campylobacter, responsible for most eases of food infection in England and Wales.

IN the Republic, we have no definitive indication of its prevalence. Salmonella is believed to be responsible for most Irish outbreaks - a national surveillance centre, due to be established next year, could fill in the glaring information shortfall.

In addition, we are increasingly vulnerable to food borne viruses and waterborne protozoans such as cryptosporidium and giardia, which are not life threatening but debilitating, with similar symptoms to those caused by bacteria. As with other bugs, careful handling of food and drink keeps them at bay.

New risks have forced a re-direction of the Irish food industry. As a consequence of BSE and food scares - mostly not of their own making - food businesses have no choice but to be driven by food safety. The State, however, has yet to deliver on its newly fashioned commitment to the concept.