UNITED NATIONS, Jun 07 (APP): Unsafe food kills an estimated 420,000 people every year, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said while marking the first-ever UN World Food Safety Day.
Children under-five are the most at risk, carrying 40 per cent of the foodborne disease burden, amounting to 125,000 deaths every year, according to WHO.
“These deaths are entirely preventable,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Unsafe food – contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances – also causes nearly one-in-ten people, or some 600 million, to fall ill globally each year, according to WHO.
“World Food Safety Day is a unique opportunity to raise awareness about the dangers of unsafe food with governments, producers, handlers and consumers”, WHO chief stated.
Just as food safety contributes to food security – human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development – unsafe food hinders these resources by straining health care systems and harming national economies, tourism, trade and development.
In many low- and middle-income economies, unsafe food that has caused workers to suffer illness, disability and premature death, costs $95 billion in productivity annually, WHO estimates.
Improving hygiene practices in the food and agricultural sectors helps to reduce the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance along the food chain and in the environment, the UN explained.
The theme of this year’s first commemoration on Friday is that “food safety is everyone’s business”.
Cognizant of the urgent need to raise awareness, promote and facilitate actions for global food safety, the General Assembly decided to designate 7 June as World Food Safety Day.
The UN has designated WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to lead efforts in promoting worldwide food safety.
Together they are joining forces to assist countries in preventing, managing and responding to risks along the food supply chain by working with food producers, vendors, regulatory authorities and civil society – regardless of whether food is domestically produced or imported.
“Whether you are a farmer, farm supplier, food processor, transporter, marketer or consumer, food safety is your business,” FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said. “There is no food security without food safety”.
The UN agencies underline that safe, nutritious and sufficient food is a key to promoting health and ending hunger, which are two of the main aims of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Investing in consumer food safety education can potentially reduce foodborne disease and return savings of up to $10 for each dollar invested, according to the UN agencies.
Worldwide activities for World Food Safety Day are aiming to inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne health risks.
“From farm to plate, we all have a role to play in making food safe”, the WHO chief said.