Access to sufficient amounts of safe food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health.

This was highlighted by the Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy while delivering his statement on the World Food Safety Day celebration.

World Food Safety Day Celebration with the theme " Safer Food, Better Health'' was celebrated on Tuesday 7th June 2022 throughout the globe to create awareness and ensure that each citizen is well informed about ways to reduce the risk of food poisoning.

“Whenever we talk about Food Safety and Safe Consumption, we need to ensure that from the farm gate to the consumers' table, the food is safe to consume and safe to handle as well,” said Minister Reddy.

Minister Reddy said with an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food was a threat to human health and economies, disproportionally affecting vulnerable and marginalised people, especially women and children.

Minister Reddy added that an estimated 420,000 people around the world die every year after eating contaminated food and children under five years of age carried 40 percent of the foodborne disease burden.

“Food safety is everyone's business; it includes farmers, those who handle post-harvest processes of the produce, middleman, exporters, retailers, processors and at the end, its consumers as well, our people at home who handle food, chefs who prepare food and people who serve - we need to mobilise everyone to ensure that people who consume food are consuming safe food; therefore, it is very important to comply to global food standards -  standards set up in national level and the global level,” said Minister Reddy.

Minister Reddy added that it was equally important that an effective regulatory food control system be established that included emergency preparedness and response, provided access to clean water, and promoted the application of good agricultural practices.

"My concern is during abnormal times that is riskier to our people, particularly the unfortunate who had been affected by the natural disaster; the vulnerable could resort to consuming unsafe food; how do we deal with those kinds of circumstances, what should our response be? Some people are distributing rations, distributing food materials which we have no control of in terms of food standards."

Minister Reddy added that there were people who were suffering and were hungry for food, who had lost everything and would not be as receptive to the food standards as they weren't in a position to willingly adhere to said standards. 

"How do we handle those types of situations? We need to be practical about it," Hon. Reddy said.

Moreover, Permanent Secretary for Agriculture, Vinesh Kumar while officially opening the World Food Safety Day celebrations said that at the Ministry, food and nutrition security was the basis of its first Strategic priority which was one of the five key pillars of its 5-year Strategic Development Plan that guided its daily operations.

PS Kumar said through this priority, the Ministry ensured improved production and access to local food, demand for diverse, nutritious and safe food; increased production of resilient, safe and nutritious food in rural and urban communities; and a strong multi-sector approach supported by a Food and Nutrition Security Policy which was in its final drafting stages.

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