This chapter discusses an integrated risk assessment approach to food safety issues and foodborne diseases, highlighting its advantages from current risk assessment methods. Applications of this approach to risk evaluation relevant to foodborne infections (i.e., variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encenphalopathy, salmonellosis), as well as to foodborne chemical and pollutants, are described.

This chapter summarizes evidence from the literature to demonstrate how companion animals (particularly dogs) might help to reduce the risk for obesity and non-communicable diseases such as heart diseases, depression and diabetes mellitus. It also explores current research on the potential use of dogs to detect medical problems in their owners.