World Food Safety Day | 08 Jun 2019

The first-ever World Food Safety Day is being celebrated on June 7.

  • It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018 in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization.
  • The theme for 2019 is ‘Food safety, everyone’s business’.
  • The day aims to create awareness about the importance of maintaining safe food standards and also reduce the burden of deaths due to foodborne diseases.
  • The United Nations has designated two of its agencies — the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) — to lead efforts in promoting food safety around the world.
  • The UN has developed a guide to discuss why food safety is necessary and how it could be achieved. The guide has five key points:
    • Governments must ensure safe and nutritious food for all.
    • Agriculture and food producers need to adopt good practices.
    • Business operators must make sure food is safe.
    • All consumers have a right to safe, healthy and nutritious food.
    • Food safety is a shared responsibility.
  • Safe, nutritious and sufficient food is a key to promoting health and ending hunger, which are two of the main aims of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Government Initiatives

  • FSSAI has developed the first State Food Safety Index (SFSI) to measure the performance of States on five parameters of food safety.
    • The categories include Human Resources and Institutional Arrangements, Compliance, Food Testing- Infrastructure and Surveillance, Training and Capacity Building and Consumer Empowerment.
  • A new-age, hand-held battery operated device called ‘Raman 1.0’ to perform rapid detection (in less than 1 minute) of economically driven adulteration in edible oils, fats and ghee.
  • An innovative solution to take food safety to schools, called the ‘Food Safety Magic Box’. This do-it-yourself food testing kit comprises a manual and equipment to check for food adulterants, which schoolchildren can use in their classroom laboratories.
  • FSSAI has instituted the ‘Eat Right Awards’ to recognize the contribution of food companies and individuals to empower citizens to choose safe and healthy food options, which would help improve their health and well-being.