UN calls for unified efforts to ensure food safety

UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has called for unified efforts to ensure safe production, distribution and preparation of food.

His statement came in the wake of new data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on World Health Day on the impact of foodborne illnesses and the danger from unsafe foods.

The UN secretary general said that contaminated food could result in more than 200 diseases, which was a constant threat from new production, distribution and consumption methods along with the emergence of resistant bacteria.

Ban Ki-Moon said: "With the food supply chain stretching around the world, the need to strengthen food safety systems within and among countries is becoming more critical.

"That is why, on World Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on countries and all actors to improve food safety from farm to plate and everywhere in between."

WHO is in the process of an analysis of the burden of foodborne diseases that confirms existence of 582 million cases of 22 different foodborne diseases in 2010 with 351,000 deaths from diseases like Salmonella, E.Coli and norovirus. Results of its analysis will be released in October this year.

WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan said: "Food production has been industrialised and its trade and distribution have been globalised. These changes introduce multiple new opportunities for food to become contaminated with harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemicals."

The analysis has also revealed that most of the deaths occurred in Africa and South East Asia and children under five years old accounted for almost 40% of those suffering diseases from contaminated food.

Recently, WHO also urged nations in South East Asia to make food safety a priority as more than 700,000 children die of diarrhoea in the region every year.

---

Image: At an open market in Haute-Savoie, France, a vendor offers a variety of vegetables, all produced meeting standards recommended by WHO. Photo: courtesy of WHO/V Martin.