Apr 7, 2015
உலக சுகாதார விழிப்புணர்வு கண்காட்சி
சேலம், ஏப்.7&
உலக சுகாதார தினத்தையொட்டி தமிழ்நாடு உணவு பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் மருந்து நிர்வாக துறை சார்வில் இன்று சேலம் புதிய பேருந்து நிலையத்தில் உணவு பாதுகாப்பு குறித்த விழிப்புணர்வு கண்காட்சி நடந்தது. இதில் மாவட்ட கலெக்டர் மகரபூஷணம், டிஆர்ஓ செல்வராஜ், மாநகராட்சி கமிஷனர் செல்வராஜ், உணவு பாதுகாப்பு துறை அலுவலர் அனுராதா உட்பட பலர் கலந்துகொண்டு விழிப்புணர்வு கண் காட்சி அரங்கை திறந்துவைத்தனர்.
அரங்கில், உடலுக்கேற்ற நல்ல உணவு முறைகள், கெட்ட உணவுகள் மற்றும் அதன் விளக்கங்கள் பற்றி விவரிக்கப்பட்டிருந்தது. விழிப்புணர்வின் போது பொதுமக்களுக்கு மூலிகை குளிர்பானம் வழங்கப்பட்டது.
Artificially ripened mangoes seized
Food Safety Officials have seized 370 kg of artificially ripened mangoes from a fruit outlet on Race Course here on Monday.
Following a complaint, a team led by Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (Food Safety Wing) Designated Officer R. Kathiravan raided the outlet. They found 20 packets of calcium carbide, which was evidence that they had been indulging in artificial ripening of mangoes. The officers seized 17 boxes of mangoes, valued at nearly Rs. 25,000. The mangoes were destroyed on the spot.
‘Pesticide and antibiotic use threaten food safety in India’
While WHO focuses on food-borne diseases on the occasion of World Health Day, Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment expands the scope of ‘food safety’ to include other local factors that make food unsafe for consumption
Safe food and health are strongly linked. To highlight the importance of this link, the World Health Organization has chosen food safety as the theme of this year’s World Health Day, celebrated every year on April 7. Unsafe food is the reason behind more than 200 diseases, many of which lead to the deaths of several thousand adults and children around the world.
Ensuring food safety is a tough challenge in a large and complex country like India. Adulteration of several food items is regularly reported from different parts of country. A case in point is the adulteration of milk with water and detergents in most states. The water used for diluting milk could be contaminated with bacteria or virus, while detergents are toxic to humans.
Pesticide use and management are largely unregulated in India. Food contaminated with pesticide residues is linked with long-term health effects such as endocrine disruption, birth defects and cancer. Besides raw agriculture produce, pesticides have been found in packaged food products such as soft drinks and bottled water. So rampant is their use that they have been found in human tissues, blood and even breast milk. Unregistered pesticides and those with no set maximum limits are being used. Waiting periods are not known or not followed in many cases. Their usage is largely influenced by the industry’s marketing initiatives due to less effective farm extension services and limited coherence between government institutions at the Centre and in the state.
Indiscriminate use of antibiotics for non-therapeutic reasons such as growth promotion and mass disease prevention is a common practice in intensive industrialised farm settings in the country. Residues of antibiotics and drug-resistant bacteria can get transferred to humans through contaminated food. Drug resistance, which is linked with the practice of using antibiotics, makes food-borne illnesses difficult to treat. Most bacteria which cause food-borne illnesses such as E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter are already found to be multi-drug resistant in the country.
Microbiological contamination of street food is a concern. On the other hand, the most common replacement of street food is processed and packaged food, which is laden with chemical additives used or generated during processing and packaging. Long-term risks of many of these additives are still not known. Besides, ultra-processed junk foods are also known to be high in salt, sugar and fats, including trans fats. Considering their established linkages with non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease, it would be more than appropriate to consider these foods as unsafe too.
Another challenge is that ultra-processed junk food and other pre-packaged foods are cheap and more easily available than freshly prepared foods, fruits and vegetables. This is due to increasing industrial food production practices, transition in food consumption habits, fragmented food industry characterised by huge number of micro and small food operators, and a newly set up food safety authority.
This becomes more challenging in India as a large proportion of the population is undernourished and unaware about the very concept of food safety. The connection between “food” and “health” (or disease in this case) is less understood.
India can no longer afford to remain torn between providing “food” and “safe food” to all. Safe food is a must.
Recommendations of CSE
- Strengthen the implementation and enforcement of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSS). Set financial and legal penalties to act as deterrents. Apply procedures and practices of product approval, registration and licensing of food business operators to facilitate better enforcement of the law of the land.
- Improve food testing laboratory infrastructure and skills. It will also help identify and address food-safety emergencies.
- Set scientific and internationally accepted limits for chemicals or determinants of unsafe food. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) should set maximum residual limits for antibiotic residues in chicken and other food-producing animals. These should reflect therapeutic use only. Also, set and implement a stringent limit for trans fats in hydrogenated oils at 5 per cent.
- Prioritise training, education and awareness of all stakeholders. Mass communication efforts and initiatives are the need of the hour. Emphasise appropriate food labelling to inform consumers better.
- Set a national level disease surveillance and public alert system.
- Domestic food and international trade policies should facilitate easy and cheap availability of freshly prepared food, fruits and vegetables in the country.
Food safety and better health
Food safety, the World Health Organisation’s theme of the World Health Day 2015, is an issue of growing public health concern and, therefore, timely indeed. It has brought attention to pertinent questions: What is in your meal? Where did the ingredients come from? Were they properly and safely handled at every stage, from farm to plate? The objective of the World Health Day this year is to catalyse collective government and public action to put measures in place that will improve safety of food by aligning policies in agriculture, trade, health, education and social protection to provide a safe and healthy diet for all.
Foodborne and waterborne diarrhoeal illnesses kill an estimated 2.2 million people every year globally, most of whom are children. Unsafe food, containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances, causes more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. Food safety hazards arise from harmful agricultural practices, poor hygiene at all stages of the food chain, lack of preventive controls in food processing operations, misuse of chemicals, contaminated inputs or inappropriate storage.
In India, the full burden of foodborne illnesses is not known; most foodborne illnesses go unreported. Surveillance data in the country from 2011 -14 shows that foodborne outbreaks, together with acute diarrhoeal diseases, constituted nearly half of all reported outbreaks during this period. Although, there are many factors contributing to diarrhoea, simple interventions like washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrhoeal diseases by 42-47 per cent.
India has the second largest human population and one of the world’s greatest densities of tropical livestock. It possesses a favourable environment for the transmission of both, known and novel diseases between animals and people. Recent data on the foodborne micro-organisms in India has seen outbreaks of eight organisms of emerging and re-emerging diseases and six of these are of zoonotic origin. Thus, collaboration and strengthening surveillance in both, the animal and human health sectors, recognises the importance for comprehensively addressing the health risks at animal-human interface.
Use of pesticides and fertilisers in the past 50 years have grown nearly 170 times. Consequently, persistent residues of these chemicals contaminate food and disperse in the environment and find their way into the food chain.
In India, food safety has obvious and direct linkages with the Swachh Bharat initiative of the prime minister that promotes cleanliness and hygiene, which are the key factors influencing food safety, thereby reducing the socio-economic impact of foodborne illnesses. Food safety also has linkages with the ‘Make in India’ campaign of the government to realise India’s huge potential in the export of high value agricultural produce-higher domestic standards for food safety and compliance can reduce the market risk.
The Government of India reaches nearly 200 million beneficiaries through the nation-wide food supplementation programmes like midday meals and supplementary nutrition programme of Integrated Child Development Services scheme. The public distribution system supplies grains to populations below poverty line. These programmes may harm beneficiaries in cases of gaps in food safety and control system.
Street food culture
The country has a thriving street food culture. While it may be the least expensive and most accessible food, street food also carries some risk. Fair licensing and inspections, combined with educational drives, are the best long-term measures to safeguard the public.
By enacting Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, India consolidated various laws relating to food and established the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for laying down science-based food standards.
At the same time, agriculture sector needs to ensure the safety of the produce that arrives in the market as per the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) guidelines and Codex recommendations. On this World Health Day, let us commit to working together for making our food safe, leading to better health of the people of India.
(The writer is WHO Representative in India)
Street food is safe food
On World Health Day it’s time we took stock of the safety of street food.
The world today is concerned about the ill effects of unsafe food. This growing concern has been aptly highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has declared “Food Safety; from farm to plate, make food safe” as the theme for this year’s World Health Day on April 7. This theme is expected to highlight and demonstrate the importance of food safety; especially along the whole length of the food chain. Highlighting the stress points along the food chain is important given that we live in a globalized world where any food item goes through a long production cycle which includes: growing the food product, transporting it and eventually preparing it for consumption. According to the WHO’s fact sheet, over 200 diseases are caused by unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemical substances.
What’s worse as many as 20 lakh deaths are estimated to occur annually from contaminated food or drinking water? In India, where despite the presence of the National Food Security Act, a large number of people find it difficult to manage two square meals a day, the issue of food safety automatically takes a backseat. We often read or hear about food poisoning out breaks in different parts of the country but this news is not given much importance. Food poisoning, as experts point out, is attributable to consumption of unsafe food or contaminated water. One, therefore, can easily understand the strain on human capital and financial resources which is caused due to unsafe food.
Food hawkers/street food vendors are one of the important but often overlooked parts of the long food chain. Therefore, any move to ensure food safety is not likely to yield significant gains unless the role played by food hawkers in providing economical food options to the society is recognised; and their needs appreciated. Although no clear and verifiable statistics are available, some estimates available on the internet suggest that in India, there are more than one crore street food vendors.
An office bearer of the National Hawker Federation said that the figure perhaps does not take into account those food hawkers who ply their trade in various trains which runs throughout the length and breadth of the country. He also added that the average daily turnover of the food vendors of the country would be approximately in the range of Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 crore. These whopping figures clearly indicate that this informal and unorganised industry can play an important role, if its potentials are properly assessed and tapped.
In a developing society like ours, many a time due to financial reasons, both husband and wife take up jobs. This demographic trend is prevalent across the middle class, lower middle class and poor families. This trend maybe applicable, to some extent, to a miniscule percentage of upper middle class families too. After going through the daily grind, both husband and wife are too exhausted and tired to cook, so they search for viable food alternatives. Street food vendors/ hawkers offer such families a cost effective and tasty alternative. All big cities in India are witness to a big migratory workforce pouring in and out of them every day. A majority of this workforce in any city, be it Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore or Pune is fed by street food vendors during their lunch or tea breaks.
A report on street foods in Calcutta by I. Chakravarty of All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health and Colette Canet of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had recognised that by spending approximately Rs 5, one could get wholesome street food that provided almost 1000 Calories. No restaurant or cheap eatery could afford to provide such an inexpensive and nutritious meal. Street foods across the country present before us a wide array of local cuisine which is inextricably linked to the culture and food habits of the area where they are sold. With increasing inter-state workforce migration happening, one can easily find the delicacies of different parts of the country in one’s area. You get stuffed paranthas of North India, in Kolkata and kathi rolls of Kolkata in Delhi. The momos of Darjeeling and Sikkim are relished on the footpaths of Delhi NCR. In a street food festival organized by the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), a food vendor from Punjab was found selling Pav Bhaji. Isn’t this proof of the remarkable cultural osmosis of different local cuisines in India?
Recognising the potential of street food as an important tourism offering, many countries across the world are planning to develop dedicated food streets to showcase their culinary variety to the world. In India, we already have these food streets. Unfortunately they have just sprung up haphazardly and have not been developed in an integrated and planned manner. It is astonishing that in a country, which is home to a remarkable variety of street cuisine, none of our cities figure in the list of top 10 Asian street food cities drawn up by the reputed news organisation CNN.
The surroundings in which India’s street food vendors ply their trade is so pathetic that many Indians would not like to have food from them, let alone foreign tourists. There are several reasons for such a pathetic work environment surrounding the street food vendors/food hawkers in the country. Lack of awareness and absence of motivation amongst majority of the street food vendors are two basic reasons why they probably end up compromising on hygiene in some cases. Using disposable gloves, aprons, etc. are considered avoidable overhead expenses. Trading off hygiene issues to keep the product cost low and competitive is another reason that is responsible for the insipid environment around street food vendors in the country.
Interaction with some of the food vendors of Russel Street in Kolkata revealed that they would welcome any training program focused on producing and serving safe food to their customers. They pointed out that absence of supply of potable water, proper waste disposal systems and civic amenities for vendors are major impediments towards ensuring food safety by street food vendors.
It’s a heartening sign that food vendors are voluntarily interested in getting trained. There are few other encouraging stories too. The Ministry of Tourism is already working with the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) and imparting training to the latter’s members. Food safety and Standards authority of India (FSSAI) is also playing its role inter-alia by way of carrying out publicity campaigns on safer foods. Nonetheless, much is still left to be done.
The challenge of training all food vendors on universal coverage basis still needs to be addressed. Providing public amenities, clean and safe drinking water, appropriate waste management system etc. to street food vendors through a coordinated approach would take the environment around our street vended foods to a level where it can blend well with the idea of Swachh Bharat.
A hygienic street food vending environment has the potential to immensely contribute towards our social infrastructure by way of reducing the burden of health care cost attributable to unsafe street vended foods and also by providing cost effective food fiesta to the citizens as well as discerning tourists. The potential of this informal sector in generating employment is established by various studies. These together have the capability of being part of those founding pillars on which India’s smart cities would rest. All concerned stakeholders of the street vended foods in India must follow the spirit of the theme of this year’s world health day and ensure that all vendors/hawkers of the country are trained; so that they are able to appreciate the concerns of consumers who would like to purchase safe food and not a plateful of diseases.
The local authorities and Tourism Boards can also pitch in. Corporate houses or Public Sector Units may be exhorted to help the cause as well. They may fund state of the art food carts, waste disposal bins, garden umbrellas which will help in improving the quality levels of street food across the country. An institutional mechanism is needed to be put in place to identify and train the street food vendors falling outside the NASVI banner to help them upskill and upscale. To promote healthy competition, concerned agencies may rank the food vendors and issue certificates to that effect, so that a sense of pride is felt by a food vendor while a sense of safety is instilled in the minds of a consumer.
Above all, the consumers need to be made aware of the dangers of consuming unsafe food and they need to be educated to demand an environment where the street vended foods are safe. Besides the traditional media, consumers may be engaged through social media for awareness campaigns. Studies have established that adopting hygienic practices by street food vendors actually enhanced their profits. However, attitudinal indifference hampers the optimal development of this informal industry with immense potential.
WHO calls for safe food in India
Says cross-sectoral collaboration needed to achieve food safety
A regional consultation, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in collaboration with the Department of Community Medicine, M S Ramaiah Medical College made a strong call for promoting food safety, the theme of this year’s World Health Day.
The consultation brought together stakeholders, from farm to plate, to discuss integ- ration of ‘food safety’ into the broader food policy agenda and informing producers and consumers about the vital importance of safe food, and its impact on public health.
Speaking of the World Health Day, Dr Nata Menabde, WHORepresentative to India, said, “Food safety is an issue of growing public health concern. To achieve food safety, strong functional links must be built between the public health and other sectors to ensure effective cross-sectoral collaboration.”
“In India, food safety has obvious and direct linkages with the Swachh Bharat initiative of the Prime Minister that promotes cleanliness and hygiene, which are the key factors influencing food safety, thereby reducing the socio-economic impact of foodborne illnesses,” she added.
In her World Health Day message, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organization, South-East Asia Region, said: “Political awareness and consumer education on food safety will help to strengthen enforcement of food standards, improve hygienic practices, and prevent foodborne illnesses. The most pertinent of all the measures is creating awareness among people to ensure that their food is safe.”
In his address, P S Vastrad, Commissioner, department of health and family welfare, Government of Karnataka, highlighted the importance of preventive measures to ensure good health and he elaborated on, “how fertiliser, use of preservatives to aid transportation of food grains over long distance and chemical treatment make farm produce contaminated and adulterated. He also reiterated the importance of inculcating healthy eating habits.”
Addressing the issues related to food safety and food control systems, the consultation saw active deliberations on the need for multi-sectoral collaboration from food production to consumption and cooperation from all sectors for compliance of food.
Acknowledging the need to further improve the food safety systems, the forum extensively deliberated on the issues of production, regulations, nutrition, unhealthy food, consumer awareness, animal-human interface of foodborne diseases and strengthening surveillance of these diseases in India.
The consultation strongly advocated that the governments must partner civil society, NGOs, private sector and consumers, to ensure that safe food becomes everybody’s business.
World Health Day: 5 food safety tips to avoid getting sick while travelling
New Delhi: Almost each one of us likes travelling around the world and get a break from our busy and monotonous work schedules.
But while travelling, food is one thing that each one of us should be careful about. Do we ever give enough importance as to what is being served in our plate and how safe and hygienic it is?
The theme for World Health Day, which falls on April 7, is safe food this year. So, here are a few food safety tips for a traveller:
-Always try and go for hot and freshly prepared foods rather than choosing frozen meat, cheese, buffet foods and unsealed mayonnaise as they carry a lot of bacteria.
-Eat at a place or restaurant that is crowded to ensure safer food choice.
-Always try and go for bottled water products while travelling, but you should always check the seal to ensure it is intact as not all packaged drinking water is safe.
-Don't eat cut fruits as they may carry a lot of infection, instead buy fresh ones and peel them yourself and eat.
-And last, but certainly not the least, always wash and sanitize your hands properly while eating out to avoid getting inflicted with infections that may cause food poisoning.
5 golden rules of food safety
How many of us believe that eating raw vegetables is healthy? Clearly most diet aficionados will nod their head in affirmation. As a matter of fact, unknowingly, most of us have developed this habit of eating raw vegetables. This makes us vulnerable to outbreaks of diarrhea, which if not checked now might become a concern for an impending epidemic in the coming decades. This is one of the cases where we jump the line of food safety.
To stress on the importance of clean eating, the theme of World Health Day 2015 is Food Safety. According to WHO statistics, food-borne and water-borne diarrheal diseases kill an estimated 2 million people, including many children annually. Here are a few food safety guidelines that we can inculcate in our daily habits.
Keep clean
We all are aware that the popular myth 'From farm to plate' doesn't stand relevant in today's circumstances. Keeping that in mind, WHO has stressed on the fact that we must, in all circumstances, follow clean cooking habits. Following unhygienic cooking habits can transfer some dangerous microorganisms to the hands, wiping cloths and utensils, especially chopping boards, as the slightest contact can transfer them to food and cause food-borne diseases. So keep separate chopping boards for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items. Also, make sure you wash and sanitize all surfaces and equipment before cooking.
Separate raw and cooked foods
Keeping raw and cooked food separate cuts down the risk of cross contamination considerably. It is possible that bacteria may pass from raw food onto the hands and then directly to the work surfaces, clothes, equipment, before ultimately getting transferred to the cooked food.
For example, if raw meat is stored above cooked food, blood and fluid may drip onto the cooked food and contaminate it. To keep this in check, it is essential to use different equipment and utensils such as knives and chopping boards for raw and cooked food and store food in separate containers to avoid contact between raw and cooked food.
Cook thoroughly
Proper cooking kills almost all micro organisms. Delhi-based Seema Singh, clinical nutritionist, Fortis suggests, "It is important to consume hot piping food because of its low microbial count. As the temperature falls below 70 degrees, the microorganisms increase in number considerably. Additionally, one should ensure that the food is not overcooked as it then loses its nutritional value. The preferred way of cooking to retain nutritional value has to be steaming."
Keep food at safe temperatures
What do we mean by safe temperatures? It means maintaining the temperature at a level where microbial count is reduced to the minimum or completely stopped. This temperature is about 60 degrees Celsius on the higher side and 5 degrees on the lower side. Dr Ashwini Setya, senior gastroenterologist, Max healthcare says, "It is important to keep food at safe temperatures and not store cooked food for long. Also, when you are consuming stored food, ensure it is heated up well before consumption (100 degree Celsius). To avoid food related diseases, refrigeration of cooked food should be minimized along with the habit of keeping cooked food at room temperature for a long time."
Use safe and raw materials
Make sure you use clean water to cook your food. Using safe water, selecting fresh and wholesome food, choosing foods processed for safety like pasteurized milk, washing fruits and vegetables, especially if eaten raw and not using packaged food beyond their expiry date are good safe practices.
These small, easy steps if practiced and taken care of will go a long way in ensuring a healthy life.
By Ritomaitree Sarkar
From Farm to Plate, Make Food Safe
HYDERABAD: New data on the harm caused by food borne illnesses underscore the global threats posed by unsafe foods, and the need for coordinated, cross-border action across the entire food supply chain. World Health Day will be celebrated on April 7, with WHO highlighting the challenges and opportunities associated with food safety under the slogan “From farm to plate, make food safe.”
Safe food underpins but is distinct from food security. “Food safety is an area of public health action to protect consumers from the risks of food poisoning and foodborne diseases, acute or chronic. Unsafe food can lead to a range of health problems: diarrhoeal disease, viral disease (the first Ebola cases were linked to contaminated bush meat); reproductive and developmental problems, cancers. Food safety is thus a prerequisite for food security,” says Dr M A Saleem, Sr. consultant general surgery, Care Hospitals.
New threats to food safety are constantly emerging. Changes in food production, distribution and consumption, changes to the environment, new bacteria and toxins, antimicrobial resistance-all increase the risk that food becomes contaminated. Increases in travel and trade enhance the likelihood of contamination.
WHO calls for creating awareness on food safety
Political awareness and consumer education on food safety will help strengthen enforcement of food safety standards, improve hygienic practices, and prevent food-borne illnesses, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organisation, South-East Asia region.
The most pertinent of all the measures is creating awareness among people to ensure that their food is safe, Singh said at regional consultation on the Monday, organised by the World Health Organisation in collaboration with the Department of Community Medicine, M S Ramaiah Medical College, on the eve of World Health Day.World Health Day is observed on April 7 each year.
Speakers at the consultation called for promoting food safety, this year’s World Health Day theme.
P S Vastrad, Commissioner, Department of Health and Family Welfare, said use of chemical fertilisers adulterated food.
According to Dr Nata Menabde, WHO representative to India, food safety is an issue of growing public health concern. To achieve food safety, strong functional links must be built between the public health and other sectors to ensure effective cross-sectoral collaboration, she said. “In India, food safety has obvious and direct linkages with the Swachh Bharat initiative of the prime minister that promotes cleanliness and hygiene, which are the key factors influencing food safety, thereby reducing the socio-economic impact of food-borne illnesses,” she said.
WHO is reaching out to the public, especially the youth, through its social media campaign - #safefood - to increase awareness about food-borne illnesses and improve food safety, from farm to plate. To involve people and get the message spread through social media, WHO is asking viewers to post a photo of their plate on their Facebook account and write about how they ensured food safety. Participants are also asked to nominate five of their friends by tagging them and using #safefood.
‘Food safety is a shared responsibility’
World Health Day 2015 is on April 7 under theme-From Farm To Plate, Make Food Safe
Kohima, April 6 (MExN): World Health Day (WHD) is celebrated each year globally on April 7. This year’s theme ‘Food Safety’ focuses on the need for safe food that is ‘free from microbes, viruses and chemicals’. As food supply becomes increasingly globalized, the need to strengthen food safety systems in and between all countries is becoming “more and more evident.” That is why the World Health Organisation (WHO) is promoting efforts to improve food safety, from farm to plate on WHD.
WHD is an annual event being celebrated for years to raise awareness among people pertaining to health issues and concerns. The decision to have a day dedicated to World health was taken at the first conference of WHO in 1948 in Geneva.
According to the Family Planning Association India (FPA India), Nagaland Branch, one of the most effective WHD themes was ‘Global Polio Eradication’ which was adopted in 1995. From then, most of the countries have become free of this fatal disease whereas in other parts of the world its awareness level has increased.
“World Health Day celebration focuses on increasing the life expectancy by adding good health to the lives of people and promoting healthier living habits. Youths of the new era are also targeted by this event for healthy life which in turn makes the world healthy and free from diseases,” stated the FPA India, Nagaland Branch, in a press release today.
WHD 2015 is an opportunity to alert people working in different government sectors, farmers, manufacturers, retailers, health practitioners – as well as consumers – about the importance of food safety, and the part each can play in ensuring that everyone can feel confident that the food on their plate is safe to eat.
Food safety is a shared responsibility. It is important to work all along the food production chain – from farmers and manufacturers to vendors and consumers.
Unsafe food is linked to the deaths of an estimated 2 million people annually – including many children. Food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances is responsible for more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. New threats to food safety are constantly emerging, and increases in travel and trade enhance the likelihood that contamination can spread internationally.
In the wake of these statistics, “it’s about time we address the issue of food safety which is a growing public health concern,” noted FPA India. WHD stresses on the collaboration of every government with civil societies, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and consumers to ensure safe food, where everybody has a role to play.
WHO’s five keys to safer food offer practical guidance to vendors and consumers for handling and preparing food:
• Key 1: Keep clean
• Key 2: Separate raw and cooked food
• Key 3: Cook food thoroughly
• Key 4: Keep food at safe temperatures
• Key 5: Use safe water and raw materials
Junk food: a life-threatening problem for your liver
In our fast, e-enabled life, we want everything instantly. We are not at all bothered about what we are eating, whether it is safe, unsafe, organic, inorganic, and whether it was well-preserved.
In our fast, e-enabled life, we want everything instantly. We are not at all bothered about what we are eating, whether it is safe, unsafe, organic, inorganic, and whether it was well-preserved.
Unsafe and unhealthy food can cause multiple diseases, and can not only lead to deaths but also impact the well-being of individuals and nations. The World HealthOrganisation, this year, is celebrating World Health Day with the theme of food safety, that is, making food safe from farm to your table. WHO will also publish a study about the global burden of food-borne diseases.
WHO states that unsafe and unhealthy food is linked to an estimated 2 million deaths worldwide each year. Do you know why all your favorite food items including pizzas, chaat, vada pav, bhujias, samosas, burgers, frankies, french fries, rolls and wraps are called 'junk food'? The word 'junk' suggests useless, extra; something that is not needed. And all these fast food items that have invaded every nook and corner of our country are called junk because they completely justify this meaning. Regularly eating fast food isn't just bad for your waistline, but can also damage your liver in ways that are surprisingly similar to hepatitis.
The liver is the engine room of our body, helping us, among many other duties, to digest food and get rid of useless toxins. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) may occur in people who have never touched alcohol. Here the same damage which alcohol does to liver is done by factors like diabetes, obesity and elevated triglycerides. Overweight and obese people are likely candidates of NAFLD.
In NAFLD excess fat accumulates in the form of excessive triglycerides in the liver, which occupy more than 5% of liver cells called hepatocytes. This means that the fat forms 5% of the weight of the liver as compared to normal condition (in which there is hardly any fat present in the liver). In NAFLD there is injury to liver cells due to the fat and this causes inflammation and fibrosis. Apart from the risk of liver failure, there is also an increased risk of developing liver cancer or complete dysfunction of liver.
It is estimated that around 32% of the Indian populace is affected by fatty liver ailment. Urbanisation changes linked with sedentary lifestyle, fatty food, uncontrolled blood sugar, obesity, smoking and high alcohol intake is leading Indians towards higher incidence of fatty liver disease. Maintaining a healthy weight through eating a well-balanced diet and being active is the best way to prevent NAFLD. The health risks from being overweight or obese can impact on your physical, social and emotional well-being. People with NAFLD who go on to develop cirrhosis are at higher risk of liver failure.
Early detection could catch NAFLD at a stage where the disease is reversible and further complications may be prevented before cirrhosis sets in. Better control of existing medical conditions, such as glucose levels in diabetes, can also help prevent the development and progression of NAFLD.
The best way to avoid NAFLD is to live a regimented life with regular exercise, watching eating habits and keeping a tab on your health, keeping in mind the adage, 'health is wealth.'
(Dr Shah is head of department, hepatology, Liver Instance Care and Transplant Hepatology Global Hospitals, Mumbai)
Is your food safe enough?
World Health Day on April 7 marks the founding of the World Health Organization, with a theme for each year. This year it is ‘Food Safety’, to ensure that everyone has the answers to a few questions: What is in your meal and where did the ingredients come from?
Were they properly, and safely, handled at every stage, from farm to plate? WHO is asking for action to understand and streamline the supply chain and ask stakeholders to promote food safety.
Funding requirement challenges for cold chains to cut wastage figured in recent debates on foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail. With increasing pressure on groundwater resources and other factors, farm markets have moved towards ‘chemically managed’ crops. The deterioration in the quality of topsoil is an issue. There is a growing awareness of the need to grow food that is ‘natural’ and toxin-free. The organic food industry has spawned a new health awareness. Considering modern lifestyles that promote automation and restrict opportunities to do things manually, the stress on right eating has grown.
A recent news story that mentioned idli and sambar among the healthier and nutritious breakfast options, makes you ponder over the value proposition of traditional diets. Historically these were geography-specific, using locally available raw material and attuned to the seasons. With modern supply chain systems in place, the menu has changed in most homes. There could well be a correlation between the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases and the growth of the agro-commodity industry. The obesity challenge facing Asian and Middle Eastern countries, with their increasing disposable incomes, has been chronicled.
While these relate to the collateral impact of food and lifestyle, in large parts of India and the rest of the world there is a lack of and disregard for food safety norms. Multiple factors including lack of awareness and training, absence of compliance or plain corruption are responsible. In India there have been instances of mass hospitalisation of children partaking food from publicly sponsored school midday meal schemes. Such episodes, even following wedding receptions, cause concern.
India has stringent food safety standards set in the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards Rules and Regulations, 2011. Yet, the quality of food remains a concern.
Fitness and good health have more to do with dietary choices than number exercise regimes. On World Health Day, let’s pledge to eat healthy, beat obesity, and stay fit.
(Dr. Pillai is CEO, Aster Medcity , Kochi, Kerala)
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