Every year at least three million people around the world die from foodborne illness and waterborne disease.

It is necessary to assure that food remains safe at every stage from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, preparation, and consumption. That’s why World Food Safety Day is celebrated on 7 June to highlight the health consequences of contaminated food and water. The World food safety day was observed by the United Nations from 2019. This year’s world is celebrating second world food safety day. Unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies, and marginalized people, especially women and children.

World Food Safety Day Theme: Food-Safety Everyone’s Business

This year’s theme for world food safety day is food safety everyone’s business. This campaign will promote global food safety awareness and will call upon countries, the private sector, civil society, UN organizations, and the general public to take action. The theme Food-safety everyone’s business depicts that whether we grow, transport, process, distribute, store, sell, prepare, or consume food, everyone has a role to play in making consumed food safe and uncontaminated for people. Through World Food Safety Day, the World Health Organization pursues its efforts to mainstream food safety in the public agenda and reduce the burden of foodborne diseases globally.

Food Safety Tips

It is important to keep foods safe to maintain healthy eating. We all can reduce contaminants in food and keep food safe by following food safety tips:

1. Wash your hands properly with soap and water before going to the kitchen.
2. Before eating, cooking, and cutting fruits and vegetables rinse them properly under running water.
3. Clean inside and outside of appliances and buttons and handles of appliances.
4. Daily sanitize kitchen surfaces with hot and soapy water or use disinfectant.
5. While doing food shopping keep raw seafood, poultry, and meat in a separate bag and fresh fruits and vegetables ina separate bag.
6. Clean your refrigerator once a week, discard cooked leftovers in 4 days and raw poultry and ground meats in 1 to 2 days.

#WorldFoodSafetyDay #ZeroHunger

INFORMATION SOURCE: https://www.un.org/en/observances/food-safety-day

INFORMATION SOURCE: http://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/wfsd/en/

INFORMATION SOURCE: https://www.who.int/news-room/campaigns/world-food-safety-day/2020