Technology can play an important role in food safety

Science and Technology Daily, United Nations, April 7 WHO and FAO officials stated at the “World Health Day” special event at the UN headquarters in New York on the 7th that food is bringing new threats to human health and science and technology can play a role in promoting food safety. The important role.

Dr. Koromasen, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s UN Headquarters in New York, and Ms. Brennan Hurlock, Director of the UN Office of FAO's United Nations Headquarters Liaison Office, said in an interview with the Science and Technology Daily on the morning that science and technology will not only promote the safe production of food, but also It plays an important role in food transportation, storage and testing. Faced with global food safety risks, people should make full use of new achievements and new developments in the development of science and technology.

A recent WHO report stated that unsafe foods cause about 2 million deaths each year, most of them children. Foods containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemicals can cause more than 200 diseases ranging from diarrhea to cancer. At the same time, new threats to food safety continue to emerge. Changes in food production, sales and consumption, environmental changes, emerging pathogens, and antimicrobial resistance all pose challenges to national food safety systems, and increases in travel and trade have also increased the international spread of contaminated foods. possibility.

The World Health Organization pointed out that in a globalized world, unsafe foods can also bring major economic risks. In 2011, the E. coli epidemic in Germany caused a loss of USD 1.3 billion to farmers and the business community, and paid $ 236 million in emergency assistance payments to 22 EU member states.

WHO stated that the global threat to safe foods highlights the need for concerted action in the food supply chain. At the consumer end of the food chain, the public can also play an important role in promoting food safety, including following safe food hygiene practices, learning how to carefully cook certain foods that may be dangerous, and reading labels when buying and preparing foods. To this end, WHO has also introduced an easy-to-learn "five key points of food safety." The specific approach is: First, keep clean, second, separate raw and cooked, third, ensure that the food is cooked, fourth, keep food at a safe temperature, and fifth, use safe water and raw materials.