Food safety is a global concern that covers several areas of everyday life. Access to enough healthy food is essential for sustaining life and maintaining good health. Food Safety refers to handling, preparing, and storing food to best reduce the risk of individuals becoming sick from foodborne illnesses. Due to the rush and bustle of daily life, we frequently fail to consider food safety, which led to an increase in the number of people diagnosed with foodborne illnesses globally. Every year on June 7, we observe Food Safety Day to raise awareness and mobilize efforts to prevent, identify, and manage foodborne risks and promote human health. ”Safer food, better health’ is the theme for this year’s Food Safety Day.
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History of World Food Safety Day
It all began at the 39th session of Codex Alimentarius Commission held in 2016, a proposal to promote a particular day to celebrate Food Safety within the framework of the United Nations was agreed. Later in the 40th Session of the FAO Conference held in July 2017, a resolution in support of World Food Safety Day was adopted and the World Health Organization expressed their support in December 2017. A proposal to establish a particular day for Food Safety went before the Second Committee of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. Following their October/November 2018 discussion, it was approved and went before the General Assembly for final adoption. Then on 20 December 2018 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 73/250 announcing to celebrate every 7th June as World Food Safety Day. The first World Food Safety Day was celebrated on June 7, 2019.
Theme for World Food Safety Day 2023
This year’s theme, ‘’Safer food, better health’, stresses that the production and consumption of safe food have immediate and long-term benefits in better health o people. Recognizing the systemic connections between the health of people, animals, plants, the environment, and the economy will help us meet the needs of the future.
Calls to action for Safe Food
Following are the actions initiated by WHO’s Food Safety Day campaign to promote safe food globally-
- Ensure it’s safe – Government must ensure safe and nutritious food for all
- Grow it safe – Agriculture and food producers need to adopt good practices
- Keep it safe – Business operators must make sure food is safe
- Eat it safe- All consumers have a right to safe, healthy and nutritious food
- Team up for safety – Food Safety is a shared responsibility.
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World Food Safety Day 2023 Date: June 07
June 7 each year is marked globally by the ‘World Food Safety Day’ as per the World Health Organization (WHO). Unsafe or Unhygienic food can cause food borne illness causing hazardous effect on human health. Access to safe food is each and every individual’s right. Thus, Food safety is everybody’s responsibility, whether it is growing, exporting, storing, selling, serving or consuming food. Food safety is a shared responsibility between governments, producers and consumers. Thus everyone must take part in this initiation by WHO by promoting awareness and urging action by highlighting what everyone can do to ensure food safety. Every single individual must ensure the safety of food from farm to dinner table.
By celebrating this day, WHO pursues its efforts to mainstream food safety in the public agenda and reduce the burden of food-borne diseases globally. An estimated three million people around the world die every year from food and waterborne in developed and developing countries. Around 600 million cases of food-borne illnesses annually have made United Nations to take a step towards food safety, linking together many of the Sustainable Development Goals, like eradicating hunger, preventing diseases, promoting a fair trade and improving sustainable agriculture.
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World Food Safety Day 2023: How can you celebrate?
This Year due to outbreak of COVID – 19 pandemic it’s better to celebrate World Food Safety Day 2022 virtually. World Food Safety Day will be celebrated online by bringing people together online, you can showcase your work, promote food safety locally and internationally, and learn from others as they interact with your content and share their stories. We have mentioned below how you can take part or celebrate Virtually-
- Conducting Online workshops or webinars.
- Launch a campaign
- Organize a talk
- Collect personal stories of food workers, farmers, health professionals to get aware of good food
- Turn to art or make games
- Online panel- Conducting discussion by holding an online panel with guest experts.
- Through Social media –Like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram live. You can send photos to World-Food-Safety-Day@fao.org or tag @WHO @FAO on social media and @FAOWHOCodex, using the hashtag #WorldFoodSafetyDay
- By organizing creative events.
- Interviews – Interview someone who has a in-depth knowledge about food safety or someone who practice food safety measures well.
Did You Know?
- One in ten people worldwide fall ill from contaminated food each year.
- Eating food infected with germs, viruses, parasites, or chemical compounds such as heavy metals can cause over 200 ailments.
- Foodborne parasitic diseases can cause both acute and chronic health problems. The estimated number of illnesses from 11 main parasitic diseases is 48.4 million per year, 48 percent of which are transmitted through food.
- The health of animals, plants, and the environment in which food is produced have an impact on its safety. A better food safety system can be achieved by adopting a holistic One Health approach to food safety.
- The production of safe food reduce the chance of food loss and waste
World Food Safety 2023 Quiz
- What is the full form of FSSAI?
Answer: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
- How many principles does HACCP have?
Answer: 7
- What is the minimum temperature ground beef should be cooked to in order to assure safety?
Answer: 160°F
- What temperature is recommended for your refrigerator?
Answer: 40° F.
- How long will food stored constantly at 0° F remain safe?
Answer: Indefinitely
- How long should you store leftovers in the refrigerator?
Answer: 3 to 4 days
- Ultra-high Temperature (UHT) sterilizes liquid food by heating it at a temperature of
Answer: 135°C for 2-5 sec
- What is the “danger zone” range of temperature in food handling?
Answer: 5 – 60°C
- Which three major hazards cause food contamination?
Answer: Physical, biological, and chemical
- Sugar and salt act as preservatives by;
Answer: Binding water so it is not available for the microorganisms
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