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Food Safety

Melanie Jimenez Lojero

BYU-Pathway

Public Health: 240

Nathan Peterson

May 31, 2023

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Every day in our daily life we carry out actions that allow us to have an adequate

standard of living that gives us the opportunity to develop in different aspects, they can be

recreational, educational, or simply actions that are necessary for our bodies, such as eating.

Millions of people around the world have access to good quality food that we can obtain in

different supermarkets, but an important reality is that not all people have this privilege,

which has become a major public health problem. Food safety is one of the most important

current issues that has considerably impacted society and public health. Food contamination

for various reasons has perhaps one of the most serious consequences for public health, such

as the various diseases it causes and also damage in the reduction of economic activity

(REGIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN, 1999) as well as

malnutrition mainly in children and young people.

Let’s talk about these three important points, starting with malnutrition. But, what is

malnutrition? Is just when a group of people can not obtain the necessary food for them?

According to The World Health Organization (2022), malnutrition refers to deficiencies,

excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. The term malnutrition

addresses 3 broad groups of conditions:

● Undernutrition includes wasting (low weight-for-height), stunting (low height-for-

age), and underweight (low weight-for-age).

● Micronutrient-related malnutrition, which includes micronutrient deficiencies (a lack

of important vitamins and minerals) or micronutrient excess.

● Overweight, obesity, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (such as heart

disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers).

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Malnutrition that is generated more from contaminated food is wasting. In 2014 around the

world, there were approximately 462 million underweight adults and 45 million children

were estimated wasted (WHO, 2021).

Another important point about Food Safety is the diseases that are caused by little

access to good quality food or the little healthiness that there is in them. Foodborne illnesses

can be caused by bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and even parasites that enter the body through

contaminated food. These illnesses sound infectious and toxic. “Chemical contamination can

lead to acute poisoning or long-term diseases, such as cancer. Many foodborne diseases may

lead to long-lasting disability and death”. (WHO, 2022). Some examples of what these

organisms can cause are:

Bacterias

● According to the World Health Organization, Salmonella, Campylobacter,

and enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli are the most common foodborne

pathogens that affect millions of people annually. The foods that are related to

these diseases are eggs, birds; raw milk, raw or undercooked poultry, and

drinking water; unpasteurized milk, undercooked meat, and contaminated

fruits and vegetables, respectively.

Virus

● The hepatitis A virus can be transmitted through foods such as raw, undercooked, or

contaminated seafood and fish, causing severe liver disease. (WHO, 2022).

Parasites

● “Echinococcus spp, or Taenia spp, may infect people through food or direct

contact with animals” (WHO, 2022).

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Chemicals

● The most important toxin for health is the natural toxins, that can be found in corn and

cereal. Some examples of these toxins are cyanogenic glycosides, marine biotoxins,

and toxins occurring in poisonous mushrooms, mycotoxins.

Finally, the last point but not less important is the impact that the consequences of

contaminated food and disease have on the world economy. Unsafe food has an impact in

two areas, the first is on productivity, which is estimated at 95.2 billion, and the second is on

medical expenses to treat diseases, which is 15 billion annually (World Bank, 2018).

The country with the highest total burden of foodborne disease is China, at a cost of $30

billion, then India at $15 billion, both countries accounting for 49 percent of the economic

burden of foodborne disease (Whitworth, J. 2018).

According to estimates released in 2015 from the World Health Organization,

foodborne diseases made 600 million people sick and caused 420,000 premature deaths in

2010. Children under the age of five account for 9 percent of the global population but 38

percent of foodborne diseases and 30 percent of related deaths. “The World Bank report

translates these statistics into economic terms to focus government attention on the need for

greater investment, better regulatory frameworks, and measures that promote behavior

change.” (Whitworth, J. 2018). This situation has forced countries to generate new strategies

to abolish diseases transmitted through food, investing in food safety. “This means investing

in foundational knowledge, human resources, and infrastructure; realizing synergies among

investments in food safety, human health, and environmental protection; and using public

investment to leverage private investment” (Jaffe, S. 2018).

As we can see, food safety is an essential and highly important issue in society and in

public health that affects different sectors, groups of people and even the world economy. It
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is for this reason that it is important to raise awareness among the governments of each

country to achieve greater control of diseases transmitted by contaminated food, as well as to

inform people of the actions that they can carry out locally to avoid the consumption of

dangerous food. Knowing more about food safety can help to have a better quality of life for

all people around the world and in the same way, a better economy that can positively affect

people.

Data:

● The World Health Organization reported that the number of cases of malaria recently

increased from 245 million in 2020 to 247 million cases in 2021. However, the

number of deaths from malaria decreased from 625,000 in 2020 to 619,000 in 2021

(World Malaria Report, 2022).

● According to the WHO, it is estimated that around 600 million people worldwide get

sick after eating contaminated food, of which 420 million die each year, leading to the

loss of 33 million years of healthy life.

● Unsafe food has an impact in two areas, the first is on productivity, which is estimated

at 95.2 billion, and the second is on medical expenses to treat diseases, which is 15

billion annually.

● According to data released by the WHO, the World Bank, and UNICEF, malnutrition

affects adults and children, whether they are overweight, obese, or underweight. With

adults, 462 million are underweight and 1.9 billion are obese or overweight; for

children, 149 million were stunted, 5 million were wasted, and 38.9 million were

overweight or obese.
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Conclusion

Food safety is not only the way to keep food safe and be able to consume it, but it is

also a right that all people have. Although we can say that this area of health is not given so

much emphasis due to the lack of information that is brought to the communities in order to

prevent. As a consequence of the lack of food security, diseases that cause death or that affect

health in a great way have been caused. This is the reason why it is important to inform

people so that it can be prevented and thus be able to improve the quality of life and mainly

allow children to develop properly, first in their growth and then in other areas. of their life.
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References

Fung, F., Wang, H., & Menon, S. (2018). Food safety in the 21st century. Biomedical

Journal, 41(2), 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bj.2018.03.003

Hassfurter, K. (2019, April 3). UNICEF-WHO-World Bank: Joint Child Malnutrition

Estimates - 2019 edition interactive dashboard - UNICEF DATA. UNICEF DATA.

https://data.unicef.org/resources/joint-child-malnutrition-estimates-interactive-dashboard/

Regional Committee For The Eastern Mediterranean. (1999). Food Safety.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/121784/em_RC46_6_en.pdf

Whitworth, J. (2018, October 25). Unsafe food in LMICs costs $110 billion a year – World

Bank | Food Safety News. Food Safety News.

https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2018/10/unsafe-food-in-lmics-costs-110-billion-a-year-

world-bank/

World Health Organization: WHO. (2019). Food Safety. www.who.int.

https://www.who.int/health-topics/food-safety#tab=tab_1

World Health Organization: WHO. (2021b). Malnutrition. www.who.int.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition