2. Food Safety
Food safety is the absence, or safe, acceptable levels, of hazards in food that
may harm the health of consumers.
Food borne hazards can be microbiological, chemical or physical in nature and
are often invisible to the plain eye; bacteria, viruses or pesticide residues are
some examples.
3. Key Facts (WHO)
Access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food is key to sustaining
life and promoting good health.
Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical
substances, causes more than 200 diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to
cancers.
An estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after
eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year, resulting in the loss of
33 million healthy life years (DALYs).
Children under 5 years of age carry 40% of the foodborne disease burden, with
125 000 deaths every year.
4. Contin.
Diarrhoeal diseases are the most common illnesses resulting from the
consumption of contaminated food, causing 550 million people to fall ill and
230 000 deaths every year.
Food safety, nutrition and food security are inextricably linked. Unsafe food
creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting
infants, young children, elderly and the sick.
Foodborne diseases impede socioeconomic development by straining health
care systems, and harming national economies, tourism and trade.
Food supply chains now cross multiple national borders. Good collaboration
between governments, producers and consumers helps ensure food safety.
6. Public Health Issue
Food safety is an essential public health issue for all countries.
In recent years a number of extremely serious outbreaks of foodborne
diseases have occurred.
Many of these outbreaks have involved more that one country, and some more
than one continent.
Policy-makers and consumers in many countries are re-evaluating their
strategy for food safety and the international aspects of public health within
that strategy.
7. Foodborne Diseases
Foodborne diseases are widespread and represent a serious threat to health in
both developing and developed countries, most severely affecting children,
pregnant women and the elderly.
In addition to the direct health consequences, foodborne disease can impose a
substantial strain on health care systems and markedly reduce economic
productivity.
Millions of children die annually from diarrhoeal diseases, while hundreds of
millions suffer from frequent episodes of diarrhoea and its debilitating
consequences.
Diarrhoea is the most common symptom of foodborne illness, but other serious
consequences include kidney failure, brain and nerve disorders, and death.
Among the debilitating complications of foodborne disease are reactive arthritis
and paralysis.
8. Chemical Hazards
Chemical hazards are a significant source of foodborne illness, though in many
cases it is difficult to link the effects with a particular food.
The recent dioxins crisis is one example of public concern about chemical
hazards in food.
Other concerns about chemical contamination centre on mycotoxins (e.g.
aflatoxins and ochratoxins) and heavy metals such as lead, mercury and
cadmium.
Chemical contamination may have severe consequences for human health,
including mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic effects
9. Pathogens
New pathogens and pathogens not previously associated with food
consumption are increasing the risk of foodborne illness.
Microorganisms have the ability to change and adapt. Bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, has been
associated with new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (nvCJD) in humans.
E. coli O157:H7 was identified for the first time in 1979.
Following the initial outbreak, enterohaemorrhagic E. coli has caused illness
and death (especially in children) from the consumption of ground beef,
unpasteurized apple cider, milk, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, and drinking-water
in several countries around the world.
Salmonella typhimurium DT104 with chromosomally encoded resistance to
five commonly prescribed antibiotics has spread through many countries.
10. Modern Technologies
Modern technologies to increase agricultural production must be evaluated in
order not to bring new risks to human health.
Biotechnology, hormones and antibiotics are examples of this technology.
Public health can benefit enormously from biotechnology’s potential to increase
the nutrient content of foods, decrease their allergenicity, and improve the
efficiency of food production.
On the other hand, the potential effects on human health of the consumption of
food produced through genetic modification should be further studied.
The administration of estrogenic hormones in feed increases the rate of growth in
livestock, but concern has been raised about the consumption of meat products
containing these hormones.
Adding low levels of antibiotics also increases the rate of growth in livestock, but
there is concern about the transfer of antibiotic resistance to human pathogens
from this practice.
11. Golabalization of Food Trade
Globalization of food trade presents a trans-national challenge to food safety
authorities, because food contaminated in one country can result in outbreaks
of foodborne diseases in another.
Globalization of food trade may offer consumers a wider variety of good-
quality foods that are accessible, affordable and safe.
For example, a consistent finding of studies undertaken so far has been that a
diversity of fruits and vegetables in a balanced diet is strongly correlated with
improved nutritional status and health.
Global food trade is increasing, and with it the potential to disseminate
foodborne pathogens between countries and continents.
Globalization also provides opportunities for food-exporting countries to earn
foreign exchange, which is indispensable for the economic development of
many countries and thus for improving the standard of living of many people.
12. Agriculture & Food Industries
Agriculture and food industries are being integrated and consolidated.
This consolidation, combined with increasing global trade, means that large amounts of food
from a single source are distributed over far greater distances than ever before, creating the
possibility for larger and more widespread outbreaks of foodborne illness.
The recent dioxins crisis in meat and poultry products provides a case study on the potential
for widespread contamination from a single source.
Dioxins are carcinogenic by-products of many manufacturing processes and waste incineration
which have pronounced toxic effects on the reproductive, endocrine and nervous systems.
On this occasion, dioxins entered the food chain when animal fat contaminated with
industrial oil was used in livestock feed.
More than 1500 farms in Europe received feed from a single source in a two-week time
period. This contamination led to serious economic consequences as well as causing
widespread “consumer anxiety”. The long-term health consequences will need to be
monitored and followed up.
13. Different Calculated Data
Available data indicate that foodborne illness is a huge and growing public health
problem.
For example, countries with systems for reporting cases of foodborne illness have
documented significant increases in the incidence of Salmonella, Campylobacter
jejuni, enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli, and other pathogens.
Up to 30% of the population in industrialized countries may be affected by
foodborne illness each year.
In the United States of America, some 76 million cases of foodborne illnesses
resulting in 325 000 hospitalizations and 5000 deaths are estimated to occur each
year.1
The medical costs and value of lives lost from just five foodborne infections in
England and Wales were estimated in 1996 at £300-700 million annually.
In developing countries (excluding China) in 1990, the morbidity and mortality
associated with diarrhoea was estimated to be of the order of 2700 million
15. CDC & Food Safety
Building state and local capacity to improve surveillance and investigation of
foodborne illnesses through PulseNet, the Integrated Food Safety Centers of
Excellence, and other programs.
Working with local, state, and federal partners to investigate outbreaks, and
to implement systems to better detect, stop, and prevent them.
Using data to evaluate and revise foodborne disease prevention strategies and
policies.
Working with other countries and international agencies to improve
surveillance, investigation, and prevention of foodborne infections in the
United States and around the world.
16. FAO’s Role
Keeping food safe is a complex process that starts on the farm and ends
with the consumer. FAO is the only international organization overseeing
all aspects of the food chain, thereby providing a unique, 360° vision on
food safety.
A longstanding partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO)
enhances this perspective.
Through complementary mandates, FAO and WHO cover a range of issues
to support global food safety and protect consumers’ health. WHO
typically oversees and maintains strong relationships with the public
health sector, and FAO generally addresses food safety issues along the
food production chain.
17. FAO assists Member Countries in food safety considerations
by:
Strengthening national food regulatory control systems through:
assisting national authorities to formulate evidence-based, enabling and
coherent policies.
helping governments review and update food legislation.
developing institutional and individual capacities to perform risk-based food
inspections, sampling and analysis, risk-communication and food safety
management.
18. Contin.
Working with local food producers to develop measures to prevent or minimize
food and feed safety risks
Hosting the joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, the global food
safety and quality standard-setting body
Providing independent, broad-based scientific advice to Member Countries and
to Codex through expert bodies on Food Additives (JECFA), Microbiological Risk
Assessment (JEMRA), and Pesticide Residues (JMPR)
Contributing to food chain intelligence and foresight on food regulatory issues
Providing guidance to countries on emerging issues such as antimicrobial
resistance, whole genome sequencing and nanotechnology
Facilitating access to information through relevant platforms, databases and
tools to support food safety assessment and management
Promoting food safety emergency preparedness through the FAO Emergency
Prevention System for Food Safety (EMPRES Food Safety) and rapidly sharing
information during food safety emergencies through the International Food
Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN
19. WHO Response
WHO aims to facilitate global prevention, detection and response to public health threats
associated with unsafe food.
Ensuring consumer trust in their authorities, and confidence in the safe food supply, is an
outcome that WHO works to achieve.
To do this, WHO helps Member States build capacity to prevent, detect and manage
foodborne risks by:
providing independent scientific assessments on microbiological and chemical hazards that
form the basis for international food standards, guidelines and recommendations, known as
the Codex Alimentarius, to ensure food is safe wherever it originates;
assessing the safety of new technologies used in food production, such as genetic
modification and nanotechnology;
helping improve national food systems and legal frameworks, and implement adequate
infrastructure to manage food safety risks. The International Food Safety Authorities
Network (INFOSAN) was developed by WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) to rapidly share information during food safety emergencies;
20. Contin.
promoting safe food handling through systematic disease prevention and
awareness programmes, through the WHO Five Keys to Safer Food message
and training materials; and
advocating for food safety as an important component of health security and
for integrating food safety into national policies and programmes in line with
the International Health Regulations (IHR - 2005)
WHO works closely with FAO, the World Organization for Animal Health
(OIE) and other international organizations to ensure food safety along the
entire food chain from production to consumption.
22. REFERENCES
http://www.fao.org/food-safety/en / Assesed On April 13th,2019
WHO Report on Food Safety
http://apps.who.int/gb/archive/pdf_files/EB105/ee10.pdf
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/food-safety Assesed On
April 13th, 2019
https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/cdc-and-food-safety.html Assesed On April
13th,2019
