WHO Tweeted That 1 in 10 People Per Year Succumb To Food Borne Diseases

Unsafe food has been a human health problem since history was first recorded, and many food safety problems encountered today are not new. Although governments all over the world are doing their best to improve the safety of the food supply, the occurrence of foodborne diseases remains a significant health issue in both developed and developing countries. 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 diarrhea to cancers. It also creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, the elderly, and the sick. Foodborne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food. Chemical contamination can lead to acute poisoning or long-term diseases, such as cancer. Many foodborne diseases may lead to long-lasting disability and death.

The burden of foodborne diseases on public health and economies has often been underestimated due to underreporting and difficulty to establish causal relationships between food contamination and resulting illness or death. 2015 WHO report on the estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases presented the first-ever estimates of the disease burden caused by 31 foodborne agents (bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins, and chemicals) at global and sub-regional levels, highlighting that more than 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses and 420 000 deaths could occur in a year. The burden of foodborne diseases falls disproportionately on groups in vulnerable situations and especially on children under 5, with the highest-burden in low- and middle-income countries.

Foodborne diseases are caused by the contamination of food and occur at any stage of the food production, delivery, and consumption chain. They can result from several forms of environmental contamination including pollution in water, soil, or air, as well as unsafe food storage and processing. Safe food supplies support national economies, trade, and tourism, contribute to food and nutrition security, and underpin sustainable development.
Urbanization and changes in consumer habits have increased the number of people buying and eating food prepared in public places. Globalization has triggered growing consumer demand for a wider variety of foods, resulting in an increasingly complex and longer global food chain. Climate change is also predicted to impact food safety.

Over To You:
The core messages of the Five Keys to Safer Food are: keep clean, separate raw and cooked, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures; and use safe water and raw materials.