Source: http://www.searo.who.int/entity/world_health_day/2015/world-health-day-2015-from-farm-to-plate-make-food-safe/en/

“A local food safety problem can rapidly become an international emergency. Investigation of an outbreak of foodborne disease is vastly more complicated,” stated World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, in celebration of the annual World Health Day on 07 April 2015.

With the slogan “From farm to plate, make food safe,” this year’s celebration targets food safety. WHO emphasized that “coordinated and cross-border action” is needed to solve the global threats posed by unsafe foods.

Unsafe foods include uncooked and undercooked foods of animal origin, contaminated food and vegetables and raw shellfish containing marine toxins.

“Unsafe food can contain harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances, and cause more than 200 diseases – ranging from diarrhea to cancers,” WHO explained.

Among the serious disease outbreaks were the melamine contamination of infant formula in 2008 which affected 300, 000 infants and young children in China and the Escherichia coli outbreak in 2011 which caused 53 deaths in European and North American countries. Melamine is an industrial compound which results to kidney failure, high blood pressure and even death when ingested while E. coli are bacteria which cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illnesses and pneumonia.

To prevent unsafe foods create a cycle of diseases and malnutrition, WHO emphasized the roles of the public in encouraging food safety through practicing food hygiene like proper washing of raw foods before cooking, being conscious in common food hazards like poor handling practices, reading food labels carefully and making informed choices.

“Food safety is a cross-cutting issue and shared responsibility that requires participation of non-public health sectors…and support of major international and regional agencies and organizations,” WHO ended.

Full copy of WHO’s press release for the World Health Day and information on food safety can be viewed at www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/food-safety/en/ and http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs399/en/ respectively.

To know more about the current issues on food and nutrition safety and security, you can also participate in the Global Forum on Research and Innovation for Health (Forum 2015) on 24-27 August 2015 at Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). Visit www.forum2015.org for details.