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Food Safety: What you should know

Food safety is everybody’s concern, and it is difficult to find anyone who has not encountered an unpleasant moment of foodborne illness at least once in the past year. Foodborne illnesses may result from the consumption of food contaminated by microbial pathogens, toxic chemicals or radioactive materials. Food allergy is another emerging problem. While many foodborne diseases may be self-limiting, some can be very serious and even result in death. Ensuring food safety is becoming increasingly important in the context of changing food habits, popularization of mass catering establishments and the globalization of our food supply. As our food supply becomes increasingly globalized, the need to strengthen food safety systems in and between all countries is becoming more and more evident. That is why WHO is promoting efforts to improve food safety, from farm to plate (and everywhere in between) on World Health Day, 7 April 2015. The World Health Day 2015 slogan is: “From farm to plate, make food safe”.