Food safety prepare for the unexpected
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On June 7, 2024, World Food Safety Day brought attention to food safety incidents. The theme for this year emphasised the significance of preparedness for food safety incidents, regardless of their severity.
Food safety incidents are situations where there is a potential or confirmed health risk associated with food consumption. A food incident can happen, for example, due to accidents, inadequate controls, food fraud, or natural events. While being ready to manage food safety incidents requires dedicated efforts from policymakers, food safety authorities, farmers, and food business operators, consumers can also play an active role.
Every day, on an average, 1,600,000 people get sick due to unsafe food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemical substances. It affects all countries.
The United Nations General Assembly established World Food Safety Day in 2018 to raise awareness of the importance of food safety. Food safety incidents that require intervention to protect the health of consumers can range from minor events to major crises. And because hazards have no regard for the lines humans draw on maps, an increasingly interconnected global food supply means that the risks posed by unsafe food have the potential to rapidly evolve from a local problem to an international emergency.
In 2004, FAO and WHO jointly created the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), a global network of national food safety authorities, to facilitate the rapid exchange of information across borders and between members, recording hundreds of food safety incidents every year.
Call for actions:
Governments:
• Develop and regularly update national food safety emergency response plans and use "lessons learned" from food safety events to identify gaps and limitations.
• Ensure a coordinated approach across government agencies and national authorities, including mechanisms for the rapid exchange of information.
• Provide rapid, accurate, and open information to stakeholders during food safety events and report international emergencies to the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN).
Food operators:
• Establish and regularly update food safety management plans.
• Know how to avoid food safety incidents by following good hygiene practices.
• Provide regular staff training.
Consumers:
• Practice safe food handling at home and follow the WHO's Five Keys to Safer Food: keep clean, separate raw and cooked foods, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures, and use safe water and raw materials.
• Know how to keep food safe before, during, and after emergencies, such as floods, fires, natural disasters, or the loss of power.
• Know how to report poor hygiene standards and misleading food labelling.
Source: World Health Organisation
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