World Food Safety Day 2023: Why is this global event observed?

As they say, health is wealth and you can only talk of the latter once you keep in check the former. A monumental part of taking care of your health is eating properly cleaned and healthy food. In honour of building better food safety standards, we celebrate World Food Safety Day.

Observed on June 7 every year, World Food Safety Day aims to encourage conversation and inspire action to deter and detect foodborne diseases. (Source: Unsplash)

After the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to observe June 7 as the official food safety day. the world has been celebrating it since the last five years.

The resolution proclaimed World Food Safety Day as the day to "celebrate the myriad benefits of safe food." (Source: Unsplash)

Having passed the resolution in their assembly, the UN tasked the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) with the mammoth task of not only safekeeping these food safety principles but also heading the celebratory practices linked to World Food Safety Day.

The first-ever World Food Safety Day was observed in 2019 under the theme; "food safety, everyone's business." (Source: Unsplash)

Every single day almost 1.6 million people get sick due to consuming unsafe food.

Not just that, around 340 children under the age of 5 die due to completely avoidable foodborne diseases, from diarrhoea to cancer, daily. (Source: Unsplash)

In the face of these glaring statistics and a world where an average of 200 diseases are caused by food safety issues, improving food safety standards becomes the need of the hour. (Source: Unsplash)

As there are many hands through which our food travels before it finally reaches our plate, regulating its safety is no easy task. That is why we need organisations like WHO and FAO, which can bring about change by setting laws and doubling down on other regulatory bodies. (Source: Pixabay)

But we must remember that safeguarding our food and upholding the safety procedures is not just the responsibility of the regulatory bodies but also of food producers, farmers and even us as individuals. We can do our part by raising awareness on the subject and adhering to proper food safety guidelines in our homes and those around us. (Source: Unsplash)

This year's theme for the World Food Safety Day has been declared by the WHO as "food standards save lives" and indeed they do when numbers point to 1 in 10 people in the world who get affected by foodborne diseases. (Source: Unsplash)

The observance of this international day serves as an opportunity to toughen up and reinforce food safety standards while rousing public's conscience. (Source: Unsplash)