To be your best self, you need to take care of your health. Staying healthy starts with what you put into your body. For many of us, food is a passion. Nothing beats going to your favourite eatery on the weekend or staying home and binging on your favourite meal. A bad meal can ruin our day and a sumptuous one can make it. The old saying stands true, the fastest way to the heart is through the stomach.

Unfortunately, there isn’t any of us who hasn’t experienced the almost instant effects of spoilt food in one way or the other. A few among us even go to the lengths of eating only home-cooked food to avoid get sick.

But , is your “ghar ka khana” safe?

Are you safe from food fraud?

Are you doing enough to keep yourself safe from adulterated and harmful ingredients?

What even is food safety and hygiene?

How Safe Are You?

According to WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

• Unsafe food causes more than 200 diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to cancers.
• An estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year,
• US$110 billion is lost each year in productivity and medical expenses resulting from unsafe food in low- and middle-income countries.
• Children under 5 years of age carry 40% of the foodborne disease burden, with 125 000 deaths every year.
• Diarrhoeal diseases are the most common illnesses resulting from the consumption of contaminated food, causing 550 million people to fall ill and 230 000 deaths every year.

Globally, approximately 57 % of people have developed health problems due to ingestion of adulterated and contaminated foods. It is estimated that around 22 % of foods are adulterated every year.

Sarah Krol, global managing director of food safety at National Science Foundation International, an independent, global organization that facilitates standards development and tests and certifies products, says “While it is difficult to quantify how widespread food fraud is across the entire supply chain, experts estimate the impact to the food industry to be in excess of $50 billion annually,” She adds, “Some of the commodities or food types where food fraud has been particularly prevalent or widespread are in seafood, honey, oils, spices, meat and coffee.

In India, unsafe food and water are the biggest cause of preventable infection. Acute diarrhoeal disease and food poisoning have together consistently accounted for a third of the laboratory-confirmed disease outbreaks since 2015, according to data reported by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP). Acute diarrhoeal diseases, food poisoning, chickenpox, measles and dengue were the leading recorded outbreaks of infectious diseases in 2019.

Nearly 28 percent of the food samples tested for quality were found to be adulterated, according to the 2018-19 annual report of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and fines of over Rs 32 crores were levied.

Food Manifest’s Role

We act as your one-stop resource on the web for all things food, food safety and hygiene, and well-being.The Food Manifest team utilises the blog platform with the goal of increasing social awareness on the important issues of food safety and health.

We cut through the confusion with straightforward, accessible, understandable, and actionable, person-first experiences, to help you make the best decisions for yourself and the people you love. Food Manifest covers all facets of food, food safety and hygiene, and wellbeing openly and objectively. Our content is created, fact-checked, and reviewed by qualified writers, editors, experts, and other contributors.

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