food safety and health
TRANSCRIPT
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-- By Moradiya P. B. 1
FOOD SAFETY AND HEALTH
-- By Moradiya P. B.
M.TechPFE (Roll no. 14)
Keywords: food, food safety, health,
INTRODUCTION
Ensuring food safety and preventing food borne diseases is an international public health
concern. Food safety authorities around the world are constantly challenged by changes in
microorganisms and new chemicals associated with food, as well as changes in food
production techniques and consumer behaviors, which lead to new risks to the public. To
combat these challenges, it is critical that food safety authorities around the globe collaborate
and share information and experiences. One country's problem today, could be another
country's problem tomorrow and there is a need to learn from each others' successes. The
International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), is a joint programme between the
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health
Organization (WHO), and has been providing a mechanism to facilitate such sharing of
information since 2004.
The Fifty-third World Health Assembly, in resolution requested the Director-General to put in
place a global strategy for surveillance of foodborne diseases and to initiate a range of other
activities on food safety and health. Since then WHO has organized a strategy planning
meeting on food safety (Geneva, 20-22 February 2001). Following further consultation with
Member States, WHO has drawn up a global food safety strategy, including surveillance, as
outlined in this article.
The WHO Global Strategy for Food Safety:
Defining the challenge
Traditional food safety measures have not been efficient in preventing foodborne disease over
the last decades. WHOs goal of reducing the public health burden of foodborne disease can
best be achieved through systematic application of risk analysis. Structures and systems must
therefore be developed at national, regional and international levels to survey foodborne
disease, conduct risk assessments and implement risk management strategies.
What is WHO doing?
WHO is partner to an international, multidisciplinary and intersectoral framework that
recognizes the linkages between animal, human and ecosystem health domains, and seeks to
diminish the public health risk and the global impact of infectious diseases by enhancing
livestock and wildlife disease intelligence, surveillance and emergency response systems at
local, national, regional and international levels.
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-- By Moradiya P. B. 2
Food production to consumption
In many countries, responsibility for food safety is divided among several agencies with
overlapping authority. This situation has led to a disjointed strategy for the protection of human
health from foodborne disease. Following the lead of a number of developed countries, the
Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses (FOS) is working to transfer the technology for an
integrated production-to-consumption approach to food safety to Member States. Such an
approach relies mainly on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point System (HACCP), which
has been advocated by WHO for nearly 20 years.
Retail
Food retailing involves the sale of foods in supermarkets and shops and in the informal sector,
such as street-food vendors and market stalls. Food handling, preparation and storage in food
service establishments require special provisions.
Processing
This category includes a wide range of processed foods that have been manufactured using
complex and highly technical methods to ensure food safety, extend shelf-life, reduce spoilage
and to facilitate trade. Principles of food safety management need to be strictly applied in order
to minimize the risk of potential food safety hazards.
Consumer handling
Advice to consumers on the storage, handling and preparation of foods in the home is an
essential element of a National Food Safety Programme. Improper handling and preparation
by consumers often negate the food safety measures introduced by other sectors in the earlier
stages of the food-chain.
Why is food safety an essential public health issue?
Serious outbreaks of foodborne disease have been documented on every continent in the past
decade, illustrating both the public health and social significance of these diseases. Foodborne
diseases most seriously affect children, pregnant women, the elderly and people already
affected by other diseases. Foodborne diseases not only significantly affect peoples health
and well-being, but they also have economic consequences for individuals, families,
communities, businesses and countries. These diseases impose a substantial burden on
health-care systems and markedly reduce economic productivity.
Types of food contamination Food can be contaminated by:
chemicals
natural toxins
foreign matter
Micro organisms.
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-- By Moradiya P. B. 3
Handling food safely
We need to:
avoid preparing food when sick or feeling unwell
use clean equipment, plates or containers to prevent contamination of cooked food
use clean equipment, rather than hands, to pick up food
wear clean clothes or a clean apron
wash fruit and vegetables to be eaten raw under running water.
Keeping cold food cold
Avoid keeping food in the temperature danger zone of 5C - 60C.
We need to:
take cold groceries home to the refrigerator quickly as possible
keep chilled and frozen food cold if it will be a long time before it can be placed in a
refrigerator or freezer
store cold food at 5C or less
keep cold food in the refrigerator as much as possible
Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator or microwave
Check the temperature of the refrigerator regularly.
Keeping hot food hot
Avoid keeping food in the temperature danger zone of 5C - 60C.
We need to:
keep cooked food at 60C or above until served
Refrigerate or freeze food that is to be prepared well in advance and reheat until
steaming hot before serving
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-- By Moradiya P. B. 4
Five key behaviors
Everyone wants to look and feel healthy. By choosing safer food, healthier nutrition and regular
physical activity, you can improve your health throughout your life.
These keys are important for your health no matter how old you are or where you live in the
world. Look better, feel better, reduce your visits to the doctor, maintain normal blood sugar
and blood pressure, keep a healthy weight these are just a few of the benefits of adopting
the key behaviors.
Five Keys to safer food
1. Keep clean
2. Separate raw and cooked
3. Cook thoroughly
4. Keep food at safe temperatures
5. Use safe water and raw materials
Conclusion
International compliance with new food safety and agricultural health standards can bring costs
and structural changes which, in turn, can give rise to significant redistribution of welfare
across countries, along supply chains affected by standards, as well as within societies as a
whole. These distributional effects can come through direct changes in product, labor, and land
markets and through various secondary effects (in public health, for example, or in localenvironmental conditions). The available evidence on this issue in developing countries
remains fragmentary, and, there are significant methodological challenges to properly
attributing distributional effects to standards per se. Yet, several tentative conclusions can
nevertheless be drawn from the current research and other complimentary analyses.
REFERENCES:
www.fao.org
www.who.int/en
http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/en/
http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/foodborne_disease/en/
http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/codex/en/
http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/fs_management/en/
www.who.int/foodsafety/consumer/en
http://www.fao.org/http://www.fao.org/http://www.who.int/enhttp://www.who.int/enhttp://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/foodborne_disease/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/foodborne_disease/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/codex/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/codex/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/fs_management/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/fs_management/en/http://www.who.int/foodsafety/consumer/enhttp://www.who.int/foodsafety/consumer/enhttp://www.who.int/foodsafety/consumer/enhttp://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/fs_management/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/codex/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/foodborne_disease/en/http://www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/en/http://www.who.int/enhttp://www.fao.org/