The second World Food Safety Day  will be celebrated on 7 June 2020 to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.

With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne diseases annually – almost 1 in 10 people in the world fall ill after eating contaminated food. Unhygienic food is an increasing threat to human health. Children under 5 years of age carry 40 per cent of the foodborne disease burden with 1,25,000 deaths every year.

Food safety is everyone’s responsibility and all of us must work together. The most important is building an environment for Food Safety Culture. While the industry, food producers, and aggregators are adopting technologies to support this function, a lot of onus falls on the consumer side also.

In the pandemic challenges, the world needs a new era of smarter food safety. As a consumer of foods and food products, it is especially important that you keep in mind a few important things with regards to food safety. It could be related to giving close attention to packaging, participating in authentication, information about nutritional facts and day to day normal habits about food safety.

Here are a few tips to help you eat healthily and safely during the pandemic.

Some tips for food safety you must follow during the COVID-19 pandemic

  1. When grocery shopping, plan your shopping list. Do not buy unnecessary items. buying just 1 to 2 weeks’ worth of groceries at a time can help to prevent unnecessary demand & temporary food shortages during the #COVID19 pandemic.
  2. Check for nutrition facts label reflects our greater understanding of links between diet & chronic disease. Read them carefully. Fake items have some ingredients listed which are not actually in the original supplements. Do your research about the supplements about what ingredients they use.
  3. Check closely the labels, seals, and packaging of food items. Many packed food items are guiding consumers in product authentication. Check for these. It could be a security hologram or a QR code or scratch code. Participate in the authentication process. If these labels/marks seem tampered, do not buy.
  4. Know the difference – Fruits and vegetables with blemishes or discolouration are not safe to eat. Fruits and vegetables with punctured rinds or skin that exposes the inside should not be consumed.
  5. Always bring your own bags and wash them after.
  6. If you are buying from stores, always take a receipt /bills.
  7. After shopping, wash your grocery bags. Separate raw and cooked foods to avoid cross-contamination. Clean sweep refrigerated foods once a week.
  8. Keep clean to prevent contamination – Always wash your hands and the foods thoroughly before eating and cooking with them. Do not forget to clean lids before opening canned goods.
  9. Always cook foods thoroughly to kill microorganisms. Keep food at safe temperatures– either hot or cold to prevent the growth of bacteria.
  10. And last but not the least, pass off the good habits to our next generation.

Source : Times Now

Looking for more News & Updates?