June 07
Everybody can generally endure seven days without consumption of food, according to a Myanmar saying. It is because those who cut or lose consumption of foods may face the danger of life due to weakness triggered by a shortage of nutrition and other important minerals in the body.
Hence, everybody tries to secure food for life. But, it is not adequate for food consumption. All kinds of foods must be safe for daily consumption for free from danger and poisons based on the foodstuffs. In this regard, food safety is of importance to assure that every stage of the food chain must be safe from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, and so on.
Unsafe food brings disadvantages and bad impacts on the human body. It is a threat to human health and economies, affecting vulnerable people, especially women and children, populations affected by any form of conflict, and migrant people. Terrible figures can be seen in incidents of unsafe foods.
Some 420,000 people around the world die every year after eating contaminated food. Unsafe foods affect some 1.6 million people across the world for suffering from illness per day. Moreover, children under 5 years of age carry 40 per cent of the foodborne disease burden, with 125,000 deaths every year.
Only when people can consume safe foods daily will they stay away from dangers caused by unsafe foods? Consequently, their health will improve, and live happily in society. With good health conditions, human beings can cut all undesirable expenses and disadvantages. If so, society will nurture healthy and happy children to grow up free from danger.
The safety of food can shape society to create a safe environment for all. Such an environment will help turn out qualified intellectuals and intelligentsia who can serve the State’s duties as well as the interests of society. Thanks to food safety, healthy and happy people can improve their society better and better.
This year’s theme for World Food Safety Day has been set as “Food standard saves lives”. The World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations jointly facilitate the observance of the commemorative day for enabling the people to notice the important role of food safety and contribute to the improvement of the food chain so as to manufacture safe food for all. Safety food must be supplied to all people across the world regardless of race and country to overcome famines.