Make food safety a priority: WHO

New Delhi, March 31: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday urged each tion in the South-East Asia region to make food safety a priority.

It stated that over 700,000 children die in the South-East Asia region every year due to diarrhoea and several other diseases caused by the impure food and water.

“Bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemicals, and other contamints in our food can cause over 200 diseases ranging from diarrhoea to cancer. New and emerging threats such as climate change and its impact on food production; emerging biological and environmental contamition — all Apose challenges to the safety of our food,” said Poom Khetrapal Singh, regiol director, WHO South-East Asia in a statement.

She said the countries must put in place comprehensive food safety policies and stringently implement it across the food chain.

Food safety has been set as the theme for the upcoming World Health Day.

Khetrapal said food safety is one of the key focus areas under the Intertiol Health Regulations — IHR 2005 — which includes events of all public health emergencies of intertiol concern that involve contamited food and outbreaks of food borne diseases. She informed that the WHO and the United tions Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have established the Intertiol Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) to rapidly share information during food safety emergencies. (IANS)