Transcript food security and safety

FOOD SECURITY AND SAFETY
CUHAS
OVERVIEW
 At the end of this course students should be able to:
 Know the operational definition, types and
dimensions of food security
 Understand the consequences of food insecurity
 Have a better understanding of the causes of food
contamination
 Get an insight on the effect of changing World on
food safety and how to prevent food lack safety.
Definition of food security
• Food security exists when all people, at all times,
have physical, social and economic access to
sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and
healthy life.
[FAO World Food Summit, 1996, Rome]
Introduction to food security
• The latest FAO estimates indicate about 805 million
people are estimated to be chronically
undernourished in 2012–14
• Since 1990-92,63 countries have reached the hunger
target of MDG-1 and 25 countries have achieved the
more stringent WFS target
• Latin America and the Caribbean have made the
greatest overall progress in increasing food security
with modest progress in sub Saharan Africa and
Western Asia
Global Hunger Map: 2006
Prevalence of Stunting in Children Under 5 years
(2005);correlates with global hunger map
Black et al., 2008
Reducing Hunger: The First Millennium
Development Goal
• Between 1990 and 2015 reduce the
proportion of people whose income is less
than one dollar a day and who suffer
from hunger by 50%
Types of Food Security
• Global
• National
• individual
Food Security Indicators: 2010 – 2013
The four dimensions of food security
1.
Food Availability refers to the physical existence of food, be it from own
production or on the markets.
2.
Food Access is ensured when all households and all individuals within those
households have sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a
nutritious diet.
o Depends on the level of household resources -capital, labour, and knowledge, and
also on prices;
o Function of the physical environment, social environment and policy environment,
which determine how effectively households are able to utilize their resources to
meet their food security objectives; and
o Drastic changes in conditions, such as during periods of drought or social conflict,
may seriously disrupt food production and threaten the food access of affected
households.
Food Security Indicators: 2010 – 2013
The four dimensions of food security
3. Food Utilization has a socio-economic and a biological aspect. If
sufficient and nutritious food is both available and accessible:
o socio-economic
o households make decisions/choices on what food to consume (demand) and
how the food is allocated within the household;
o Unequal distribution leads to suffering from food deficiency;
o the same is true if the composition of the consumed food is unbalanced;
o biological utilization of food – Focused at the individual level food security,
which refers to the ability of the human body to take food and translate it
into either energy that is used to undertake daily activities or is stored.
Utilization requires not only an adequate diet, but also:
– a healthy physical environment, including safe drinking water and adequate
sanitary facilities (so as to avoid disease); and
– an understanding of proper health care, food preparation, and storage
processes.
Food Security Indicators: 2010 – 2013
The four dimensions of food security
4. Food Stability refers to the temporal dimension of nutrition
security - i.e. the time frame over which food security is being
considered.
o Distinction of chronic food insecurity - the inability to meet food
needs on an ongoing basis; and
o transitory food insecurity when the inability to meet food needs is of
a temporary nature;
• cyclical (where there is a regular pattern to food insecurity, for example,
the "lean season" that occurs in the period just before harvest); and
• temporary (which is the result of a short-term, exogenous shock such as
droughts or floods). Also civil conflict belongs to the temporary category,
although the negative impact on food security often continues over long
periods of time.
Effects of Food Insecurity
• In young ages, food insecurity leads to
stunting. Mortality rate of infants may be
increased by it.
• Cognitive functions of a child may also be
affected.
• May cause people to migrate form one place
to another [refugee]
• Increment of infectious diseases
• Hunger and death [disaster]
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Lesson learnt from different countries on
methods to combat food insecurity
Ensure sustained political commitment on
food security and recognize the right of food
as basic human right.
Ensure continuity of food security policies
even if there is government change
Effective participation of all stakeholders in
policy process
Adopt comprehensive strategies to increase
food security
Improve coordination among ministries,
departments and agencies.
Example of a Government worked on improving food
security in Africa
FOOD SAFETY
• Access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious
food is key to sustaining life and promoting good
health.
• Unsafe food containing harmful germs or chemical
substances, causes more than 200 diseases - ranging
from diarrhoea to cancers.
• Food borne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases kill
an estimated 2 million people annually, mainly
children.
Introduction to food safety
• Food safety, nutrition and food security are
inextricably linked. Unsafe food creates a vicious
cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly
affecting infants, young children, elderly and the sick.
• Food borne diseases impede socioeconomic
development by straining health care systems, and
harming national economies, tourism and trade.
Major food borne illness and causes
• Food borne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in
nature and caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or
chemical substances entering the body through
contaminated food or water.
• Food borne pathogens can cause severe diarrhoea or
debilitating infections including meningitis.
Causes of food contamination
• Bacteria
 Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Enterohaemorrhagic
Escherichia coli ; This are among the commonest
bacteria
causing food poisoning affecting millions of people worldwide
. Symptoms are fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal
pain and diarrhoea.
 Listeria ; found in unpasteurized dairy products and various
ready-to-eat foods
 Vibrio cholerae ; infection occurs after ingestion of
contaminated water or food. Presents with profuse watery
diarrhoea associated with severe diarrhoea. Rice, vegetables,
millet gruel and various types of seafood have been
implicated in cholera outbreaks.
Causes of food contamination
• Viruses:
 Norovirus infections; characterized by nausea,
explosive vomiting, watery diarrhoea and abdominal
pain.
 Hepatitis A virus can cause long-lasting liver disease
and spreads typically through raw or undercooked
seafood or contaminated raw produce.
 Rota virus cause diarrhea among underfives
Causes of food contamination
• Parasites
 Fishborne trematodes e.g echinococcus
Ascaris- contaminates the fresh produce
Entamoeba histolytica- contaminated food
Giardia lamblia- contaminated water and food
Causes of food contamination
• Chemicals
 Naturally occurring toxins include mycotoxins
[aflatoxin and ochratoxin], marine biotoxins,
cyanogenic glycosides and toxins occurring in
poisonous mushrooms. Aflatoxins [from cerials] is
now the upcoming major public health concern in in
sub saharan countries.
 Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are compounds
that accumulate in the environment and human
body. Known examples are dioxins and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Causes of food contamination
• Chemicals; cont….
Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and
mercury cause neurological and kidney
damage. Contamination by heavy metal in
food occurs mainly through pollution of air,
water and soil.
Evolving World and food safety
• Urbanization and changes in consumer habits,
including travel, have increased the number of
people buying and eating food prepared in public
places
• Globalizations has triggered growing food consumer
demand creating and increasingly long and complex
food chain
Evolving world and food safety
cont..
• As the world’s population grows, the intensification
and industrialization of agriculture and animal
production to meet increasing demand for food
creates both opportunities and challenges for food
safety
• Climate change is also predicted to impact food
safety, where temperature changes modify food
safety risks associated with food production, storage
and distribution.
Evolving world and food safety
cont..
• Serious foodborne disease outbreaks have occurred
on every continent in the past decade, often
amplified by globalized trade.
 contamination of infant formula with melamine in
2008 (affecting 300 000 infants and young children, 6
of whom died, in China alone),
 Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli outbreak[2011]
in Germany linked to contaminated fenugreek
sprouts, where cases were reported in 8 countries in
Europe and North America, leading to 53 deaths
 An outbreak of acute aflatoxicosis in kenya [2004]
To ensure food safety, the following needs
to be done
• Policy-makers:
 Build and maintain adequate food systems and
infrastructures (e.g. laboratories) to respond to and
manage food safety risks along the entire food chain
 Foster multi-sectoral collaboration among public
health, animal health, agriculture and other sectors
for better communication and joint action;
 Integrate food safety into broader food policies and
programmes (e.g. nutrition and food security);
 Think globally and act locally to ensure the food
produce domestically be safe internationally.
To ensure food safety, the following needs
to be done
• Food handlers and consumers:
 Know the food they use (read labels on food
package, make an informed choice, become familiar
with common food hazards);
 Handle and prepare food safely, practicing the WHO
Five Keys to Safer Food at home, or when selling at
restaurants or at local markets;
 Grow fruits and vegetables using the WHO Five Keys
to Growing Safer Fruits and Vegetables to decrease
microbial contamination.