Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Unsafe foods cause over 200 illnesses – PAHO/WHO notes
…as World Health Day is observed
“Diseases caused by contaminated food are a serious problem for people’s health and can jeopardize our countries’ development, trade and tourism” – PAHO/WHO Director
In light of the fact that unsafe foods can cause over 200 illnesses, the Pan American Health
PAHO Director,
Dr Carissa Etienne
Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) is recommending preventive action throughout the food chain. PAHO/WHO is therefore advocating for safety in handling foods from production to consumption by implementing “five keys to safer foods,” that it has recommended.
The “five keys to food safety” include: keep clean, separate raw and cooked, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures and use safe water and raw materials. Once these are observed, food safety can be assured in the home and in food establishments, according to PAHO/WHO.
This was expressed in a statement issued by the dual-organisation to mark the observance of World Health Day.
World Health Day is observed annually on April 7 and the topic of focus yesterday was Food Safety with the supporting slogan being “From farm to plate, keep it safe”.
According to PAHO/WHO, food can become contaminated at any point in the food chain, so everyone along that chain must take measures to keep food safe—from producers to processers, retailers and consumers.
PAHO/WHO has pointed out that food contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or harmful chemicals causes over 200 diseases, from diarrhea to cancer. And in order to raise awareness and promote protective action throughout the food chain, PAHO/WHO is focusing its 2015 World Health Day campaign on the issue of food safety.
“Diseases caused by contaminated food are a serious problem for people’s health and can jeopardize our countries’ development, trade and tourism,” said PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne. “In the Americas, with our abundant food production, we can prevent most of these illnesses with strong food safety systems,” she added.
Globally, over 582 million people fall ill and more than 350,000 die annually from foodborne illnesses including salmonellosis, gastrointestinal disease and Escherichia coli infection. These illnesses result from eating unsafe foods such as undercooked meat, fruits and vegetables contaminated with feces or pesticides, and raw seafood containing marine bio-toxins, PAHO/WHO has said.
It has pointed out too that globalization has increased the interconnectedness of the world’s food chains and, in parallel, the number, frequency and sites of foodborne illnesses. Rapid urbanization has also magnified the risks, as people eat more food prepared outside the home, which is not always properly prepared and handled, PAHO/WHO has asserted.
In the Americas, about one in four people suffer an episode of foodborne illness each year. Children, pregnant women, immune-suppressed persons, and older adults are the most vulnerable.
“Rapid identification of outbreaks of foodborne diseases and timely and coordinated response are crucial for minimizing the impact of these outbreaks on the population’s health and on countries’ economies,” said Enrique Pérez, PAHO/WHO Senior Advisor on Foodborne and Zoonotic Diseases.
While there are no estimates of the total costs, including medical care, drugs and lost work hours, of these diseases at the regional level, the available data indicate US$700,000 to $19 million in annual health costs in Caribbean countries and more than US$77 million in the United States.
As part of its efforts to raise awareness on World Health Day about food safety, PAHO/WHO and the United Nations Foundation collaborated to host a webcast which featured experts who sought to answer questions about “How safe is your food?”
Participants included Bernard Vallat, Director of WHO for Animal Health (OIE); Michael Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Juergen Voegele, Senior Director for Agriculture Global Practice at the World Bank; Caroline Smith DeWaal, Food Safety Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and PAHO Director Carissa Etienne.
PAHO/WHO has for years worked with its member countries to strengthen integrated food safety surveillance systems, to ensure strong inspection and control systems to prevent national and international incidents due to contaminated food, and to enhance laboratory capacities needed to protect food safety.
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