2015 World Health Day: ‘from farm to plate, make food safe’

World Today

World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Margaret Chan (C) visits the Rungis international market in Rungis, outside Paris, on April 7, 2015 to mark the World Health Day 2015 on food safety. Each year WHO selects a priority area of global public health concern as the theme for the World Health Day on April 7, to mark the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948. AFP PHOTO / KENZO TRIBOUILLARDWorld Health Organisation (WHO) chief Margaret Chan (C) visits the Rungis international market in Rungis, outside Paris, on April 7, 2015 to mark the World Health Day 2015 on food safety. AFP PHOTO / KENZO TRIBOUILLARD

The 2015 World Health Day will highlight the challenges and precautions necessary to make food safe around the world.

“Food production has been industrialized and its trade and distribution have been globalized,” WHO Director-general Dr. Margaret Chan said.

“A local food safety problem can rapidly become an international emergency. Investigation of an outbreak of food-borne disease is vastly more complicated when a single plate or package of food contains ingredients from multiple countries,” Chan added.

Changes in how the world produces and packages food has increased the risk of food contamination by harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause more than 200 diseases.

Examples of unsafe food include:

  • under cooked food from animals
  • fruits and vegetables contaminated with feces
  • shellfish containing marine bio toxins

Graphic created by Merissa Thomas

This story was filed from information by the World Health Organization