POOR hygiene and food mishandling has led to the increase of foodborne diseases that cause the death of nearly a quarter of a million every year in the Asia and the Pacific region, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
In a statement, FAO said in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes the Philippines, more than 275 million people get sick due to food-borne diseases each year.
FAO expressed concern about the negative implication of such data on achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of Zero Hunger by 2030.
“Worldwide, each year, unsafe food or water kill more people than HIV, AIDS, malaria and measles combined, and it’s now time that everyone takes this issue more seriously,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO assistant director general and regional representative for Asia and the Pacific. “In so many cases the deaths and illnesses associated with consuming unsafe food were needless and could have been prevented.”
Apart from food contamination caused by poor hygiene and mishandling, other causes of food-borne diseases in the region include exposure to the elements as in the case of street food, and fresh produce that are left out for hours in open-air markets and hot climates.
FAO also said undercooking of food and lack of proper refrigeration contribute to food that becomes unfit to eat. This causes losses of about $95 billion in low- and middle-income countries alone, according to data from the World Bank.
The UN agency said this called for more investment in consumer food safety education which can reduce food-borne disease and return savings of up to 10-fold for each dollar invested.
FAO said calls to improve food safety in the Asia-Pacific region are increasing, primarily by governments who view this as both a public health issue and a hindrance to international trade in agricultural products.
“Food safety needs to be incorporated at every stage across the food chain and there is tremendous scope to incorporate good practices and standards in all sectors of food and agriculture. Our member-countries are increasingly asking us to give more guidance on improving national food control systems and food safety tools to be applied to both their domestic and international markets,” Kadiresan said. “FAO and the World Health Organization [WHO] jointly maintain the Codex Alimentarius system of food standards including key guidelines and codes of practices which is a valuable resource freely available to all countries.”
To improve health, well-being and food security, FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific recently sponsored an event to mark the first World Food Safety Day, with the theme that food safety is everyone’s responsibility and everyone’s business.
Government authorities must ensure a transparent regulatory framework and its fair enforcement, while the private sector needs to implement food safety measures and management systems that ensure safe food for all.
It is also the duty of consumers to be vigilant and increase their awareness about good practices at home and at the workplace including schools.
The objective of World Food Safety Day is to raise awareness that consequences of unsafe food consumption on human health are extremely serious with basic microbiological contaminations which are usually neglected.
Undercooked food, cross-contamination and nonhygienic handling are the main killers. In other words, these illnesses occur needlessly and everyone can play a significant role to prevent them from happening.