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Safe products are the foundation of a healthy nation
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
April 7th is World Health Day. In connection with this holiday, the World Health Organization intends to focus attention on problems related to food safety.
New data show that the health risks caused by food poisoning are becoming global. Based on this, the WHO is proposing to tighten controls over the transportation and storage of food products.
Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO, noted in her speech that trade and distribution of food products in modern conditions contributes to contamination of the latter with parasites, chemicals, various viruses and bacteria. She also emphasized that a problem at the local level can turn into an international emergency. In addition, it can be difficult to establish the origin of food poisoning due to the fact that one plate or package can contain products from different countries.
Food products can be contaminated during transportation with dangerous viruses, bacteria, parasites, and chemicals, and can cause the development of more than two hundred diseases, ranging from diarrhea to cancer.
The main examples of poor quality food products are meat, fruits, vegetables.
Intestinal infections caused by poor quality food products are especially common. In 2010, more than 500 million cases of various intestinal infections (22 types in total) were recorded, 351 thousand of which were fatal.
In most cases, death is caused by infection with salmonella (52 thousand deaths), enteropathogenic E. coli (37 thousand), and norovirus (35 thousand).
The most severe and dangerous intestinal diseases were recorded in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Of all cases of intestinal infections caused by food, approximately 40% occur in children under 5 years of age.
In addition, unsafe food products pose a threat to the economy, especially in the context of the transformation of the world into a single zone.
An outbreak of Escherichia coli in Germany has cost farmers and industry more than $1 billion, with the United States paying more than $200 million in aid to 22 EU countries.
Such problems can be prevented by developing reliable food safety systems. Such systems should encourage both the state and the public to take measures to prevent food contamination by microbes or chemicals.
WHO notes that action can be taken at both global and national levels, including through international food safety platforms such as INFOSAN (the International Food Safety Authorities Network).
The public plays an important role in helping to improve food safety. First of all, it is worth informing the population as much as possible about the need for hygiene and proper preparation of certain types of products, such as raw chicken or meat. Also, each consumer should carefully read the labels, which should indicate how to properly prepare a particular type of product.
WHO has published five basic principles that all citizens, without exception, need to know in order to prevent cases of intestinal infections.
The head of the WHO's food safety department noted that it is often only after a crisis that we realise how important it is to keep the food we eat safe.
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