Health Ministry promotes food safety to prevent food insecurity

Today (7) is World Food Safety Day.

The Health Ministry has introduced four Key Food Safety Messages to mark World Food Safety Day 2022.

According to Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) sources, the decision to introduce these key food safety messages has been taken after considering the current threat of food insecurity and economic burden.

Key Food Safety Messages for 2022

1. Breast milk is the safest food for the first six months and even beyond for small children.

2. Home gardening makes your food safe.

3. Follow the color code for better health.

4. Register your food premise at your MOH office.

World Food Safety Day is celebrated annually on June 7 to draw attention to and mobilize action to prevent, detect and manage food-borne risks and improve human health.

Recognizing the global burden of food-borne diseases, which affect individuals of all ages, in particular children under five and persons living in low-income countries, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed in 2018 that every June 7 would be World Food Safety Day.

This year’s World Food Safety Day’s theme is ‘Safer Food, Better Health’.

Food safety, nutrition and food security are inextricably linked. There is no food security or good nutrition without food safety. Therefore, it is vital to ensure food safety of the country in this critical situation.

In a communique, the HPB has emphasized that food safety requires multi-sector and multi-partners effort from farm to fork as food could be contaminated anywhere at the food chain; farming, harvesting, transportation, processing, preservation and storage, preparation or during consumption. Therefore, ensuring food safety needs a ‘One Health approach’, where all players at each stage of the food chain should identify their responsibility and should work for the common goal. All stakeholders in the food chain have a critical role to play in managing food safety risks. Consumers have the power to drive change.

They need to be empowered to make healthy food choices and support sustainable food systems for the planet. Good collaboration between governments, producers and consumers is needed to help ensure food safety and stronger food systems. Hence, food safety is everyone’s responsibility and therefore everyone’s business.

The Health Ministry has implemented several food safety activities in 2021 which includes the activities to ensure food safety has taken place even under the impact of COVID-19 in 2021. Though there were drawbacks, authorized officers under the Food Act have inspected 197,462 food premises including 13,751 special food raids and taken 7,326 corrective actions including 1,028 legal activities.

Approximately one-third of the usual annual average, 9,907 food samples have been tested and 834 food samples were found to be unsatisfactory.