| united states food and drug administration | An agency of the public health service concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to maintaining standards of quality of foods, drugs, therapeutic devices, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| food | 1. What is fed upon; that which goes to support life by being received within, and assimilated by, the organism of an animal or a plant; nutriment; aliment; especially, what is eaten by animals for nourishment. In a physiological sense, true aliment is to be distinguished as that portion of the food which is capable of being digested and absorbed into the blood, thus furnishing nourishment, in distinction from the indigestible matter which passes out through the alimentary canal as faeces. Foods are divided into two main groups: nitrogenous, or proteid, foods, i.e, those which contain nitrogen, and nonnitrogenous, i.e, those which do not contain nitrogen. The latter group embraces the fats and carbohydrates, which collectively are sometimes termed heat producers or respiratory foods, since by oxidation in the body they especially subserve the production of heat. The proteids, on the other hand, are known as plastic foods or tissue formers, since no tissue can be formed without them. These latter terms, however, are misleading, since proteid foods may also give rise to heat both directly and indirectly, and the fats and carbohydrates are useful in other ways than in producing heat. 2. Anything that instructs the intellect, excites the feelings, or molds habits of character; that which nourishes. "This may prove food to my displeasure." (Shak) "In this moment there is life and food For future years." (Wordsworth) Food is often used adjectively or in self-explaining compounds, as in food fish or food-fish, food supply. <zoology> Food vacuole, one of the spaces in the interior of a protozoan in which food is contained, during digestion. Food yolk. <biology> See Yolk. Synonym: Aliment, sustenance, nutriment, feed, fare, victuals, provisions, meat. Origin: OE. Fode, AS. Foda; akin to Icel. Faeoa, faeoi, Sw. Foda, Dan. & LG. Fode, OHG. Fatunga, Gr. Patei^sthai to eat, and perh. To Skr. Pa to protect, L. Pascere to feed, pasture, pabulum food, E. Pasture. 75. Cf. Feed, Fodder food, Foster to cherish. (01 Mar 1998) |
| food additives | Substances which are of little or no nutritive value, but are used in the processing or storage of foods or animal feed, especially in the developed countries; includes antioxidants, food preservatives, food colouring agents, flavoring agents, anti-infective agents (both plain and local), vehicles, excipient and other similarly used substances. Many of the same substances are pharmaceutic aid when added to pharmaceuticals rather than to foods. (12 Dec 1998) |
| food and beverages | Edible or potable substances. (12 Dec 1998) |
| food and drug administration | The U.S. Agency responsible for regulation of biotechnology foodproducts. The major laws under which the agency has regulatory powersinclude the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic act, and the Public Health Service Act. (09 Oct 1997) |
| food asthma | Asthma caused by allergic reaction to a dietary item. (05 Mar 2000) |
| food ball | A gastric concretion formed of vegetable fibres, with the seeds and skins of fruits, and sometimes starch granules and fat globules. Synonym: food ball. Origin: phyto-+ bezoar (05 Mar 2000) |
| food-borne botulism | A form of botulism that results from the ingestion of clostridium botulinum spores or toxin. (27 Sep 1997) |
| food colouring agents | Natural or synthetic dyes used as colouring agents in processed foods. (12 Dec 1998) |
| food contamination | The presence in food of harmful, unpalatable, or otherwise objectionable foreign substances, e.g. Chemicals, microorganisms or diluents, before, during, or after processing or storage. (12 Dec 1998) |
| food deprivation | The withholding of food in a structured experimental situation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| food dispensers, automatic | Mechanical food dispensing machines. (12 Dec 1998) |
| food-drug interactions | The pharmacological result, either desirable or undesirable, of drugs interacting with components of the diet. (12 Dec 1998) |
| food fever | A disorder seen primarily in childhood, consisting of a sudden rise of temperature accompanied by marked digestive disturbances, which lasts from a few days to several weeks; believed to be a form of food poisoning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| food, formulated | Food and dietary formulations including elemental (chemically defined formula) diets, synthetic and semisynthetic diets, space diets, weight-reduction formulas, tube-feeding diets, complete liquid diets, and supplemental liquid and solid diets. (12 Dec 1998) |