Wednesday, April 08, 2015 08:00 IST
WHO (World Health Organisation) regional base India 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, at a function held here to celebrate the event on April 7.
The consultation brought together stakeholders, from farm to plate, to discuss integration 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.
It strongly advocated that the governments must partner with civil society, NGOs, private sector and consumers, to ensure that safe food becomes everybody’s business. Perspectives on ‘Serving Safe Food’ were presented by a chef from a leading hotel and M S Ramaiah Hotel Management Institute, emphasising the importance of safe food.
In his address, P S Vastrad, commissioner (HFW), Government of Karnataka, highlighted the importance of preventive measures to ensure good health.
He elaborated on, “How fertilisers, 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.”
According to Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO, 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 food-borne illnesses. The most pertinent of all the measures is creating awareness among people to ensure that their food is safe.”
“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 food-borne illnesses” stated Dr Nata Menabde, WHO representative to India.
Addressing 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 standards.
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 food-borne diseases and strengthening surveillance of these diseases in India.
State-level consultations on the theme of World Health Day will also be held at Kolkata, Patna and Raipur.
FOOD SAFETY UPDATE 