The United Nations General Assembly had in the year 2018, demarcated June 7th as the World Food Safety Day. The primary objective of this day is to create awareness about the food we consume. This awareness will go a long way in detecting what risks the food that we eat harbor and what we can do to minimize, prevent or eliminate those. This will help in contributing towards human health, economic prosperity, food security, tourism, agriculture, and market access.
This day is also celebrated and facilitated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the FAO or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
There are a lot of diseases that are due to the food that we eat. Illnesses that are foodborne affect a large part of the human population. The bacteria, parasites, and viruses that are infectious and toxic and are found in food cause many diseases. These bacteria and viruses enter our bodies and contaminate our systems. Food and water are responsible for spreading the infection to humans if they are not handled properly. It is imperative that knowledge about how to keep food healthy and contamination-free is important. We must take all measures to ensure that right from the production till the consumption stage food must be well preserved and used. Food can go bad due to a variety of reasons. The food can be affected by bacteria, yeast, and molds. It can also spoil exposure to heat or due to oxidation of exposed to air. Certain foods must be refrigerated and at certain specified temperatures. Certain foods have preservatives because without preservatives the food would spoil. We must read the labels correctly to understand which preservatives we are eating and if it is possible to switch that to fresh food. The bottom line is to stay aware of the food that enters our bodies.