World Food Safety Day
On 7 June 2022 World Food Safety Day draws attention and mobilize action to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks and improve human health.
You are getting a Food Crumbs article a day early this week, so that we can recognize World Food Safety Day. This international celebration of food safety first took place in 2018. The purpose of World Safety Day is to recognize the role that we can all play in food safety.
Food contaminated with bacteria or other foodborne organisms affects everyone. Around the world, 1 in 10 people from every country suffer food poisoning, some fatally. Many children suffer from diarrhea due to contaminated food and water.
According to the UN, as many people worldwide suffer from food poisoning as they do from HIV/AIDS and malaria. In the US, the CDC reports that each year 1 in 6 Americans suffer from food poisoning with around 3000 people dying.
From policy makers to consumers, we all must ensure that our food and water are safe. Food businesses, including restaurants, manufacturers, street vendors, farmers and home bakers, have an extra role to play because they are providing food for us all to eat.
Some steps we can all take include the four core practices I discussed in an early article; clean, cook, separate, chill. It is especially important to always clean our hands before handling food.
I am writing when there are food supply chain issues leaving the FDA under pressure to improve its food safety oversight. The current problem with infant baby formula, the slow response to providing water guidance for the produce safety rule, and general slow reaction to petitions and responses to outbreaks leave many consumers, policy makers and industry professionals concerned.
Enjoy World Food Safety Day! Wash your damn hands. Cook your food thoroughly. Keep raw high risk foods away from ready-to-eat foods, and cool cooked food promptly.
I write about the intersection of food science and food systems with an emphasis on food safety, food justice and resilience.
I run a food safety consultancy, Food Safety Mid Atlantic, supporting small and mid-sized food businesses with their food safety plans and programs. If you are interested in learning more about my consulting services, please schedule a free call.
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