The World Health Day on April 7 was celebrated around the globe this year focussing on the issue of food safety. The slogan for the occasion given was: From farm to plate, make food safe. Everybody knows that healthy food is an important requirement for health. But today food production has been industrialised and distribution is globalised. These changes have introduced multiple opportunities for food to become contaminated with harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemicals, which are known to cause more than 200 diseases—ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. Microbial contamination of the food contributes to communicable disease burden. The rise even in the non-communicable diseases has links to the consumption of food high in fats, sugars, salts, residues of pesticides, food additives and contaminants. The WHO has commissioned a study to know the global burden of foodborne diseases. The results are expected to be released in October 2015. The health communication drive is needed to encourage people to practise food hygiene.
(Note: The article was first published in the Lokayat magazine:April, 2015)
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