200 diseases are caused by eating; How to be safe?

Food safety is a global concern that pervades various areas of daily life and, if deemed insignificant, creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition.

Food safety refers to the control, preparation and storage of food, in a way that can best reduce the risk of people getting foodborne illness. In short, food safety is the ability to access enough healthy and nutritious food.

Food safety is a global concern that covers many areas of daily life. The principles of food safety are the prevention of food contamination and food poisoning, which is possible through various means, and some of them are: proper cleaning of all surfaces, equipment and utensils, maintaining a high level of personal hygiene, especially hand washing, maintenance , Cooling and heating of food according to temperature, environment and equipment, effective implementation of pest control and understanding of food allergies, food poisoning and food intolerance

Regardless of why you manage food and do it as part of work or cooking at home, it is essential that you always follow proper food safety principles. There are a number of potential food hazards in a food work environment, many of which have serious consequences.

At any stage of production, packaging, transportation, distribution and even consumption of food can contaminate them. One of the most common and common of these contaminants is chemicals and pesticides and herbicides that are used on farms when crops are grown to control agricultural pests and diseases.

The most common contaminants that threaten food safety are; Pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, fungal toxins such as aflatoxins, ochratoxins, heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chemical pesticides used in agriculture, organic pollutants left in the environment and the use of antibiotics, hormones and Additives in food preparation.

The reference to the definition of food security and its relation to food safety is not without merit. Food security is the access of all members of a society to adequate and healthy food for a healthy and active life throughout life, and household income is an important factor in ensuring food security in a social system.

Another important factor in ensuring food security in the community is the taste and nutritional knowledge of families in how to allocate funds to prepare the best available food and how food is distributed in the family.

Food security is ensured when the per capita food basket of the family is properly selected and prepared, enough for the family members and cooked properly so that the elements and nutrients reach the cells and organs of the body in a healthy and correct way.

Nutrition and food security are closely linked. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of illness and malnutrition, affecting infants, young children, the elderly, and the sick. In addition to contributing to food and nutrition security, a secure food source also supports the national economy, trade and tourism, and promotes sustainable development.

Globalization of the food trade, global population growth, climate change, and rapidly changing food systems are affecting food safety. WHO has the ability to prevent, identify and respond to public health threats related to unsafe food, with the aim of promoting globally and nationally.

Safe steps in handling, cooking and storing food are essential to prevent foodborne illness, as you can not see, smell, or taste harmful bacteria that may cause disease. Therefore, at each stage of food preparation, you should follow four instructions to keep food safe: Clean the handles and surfaces, do not cross-contaminate and separate, cook at the right temperature, do this with a food thermometer and place Keep cool and refrigerate immediately. It should be noted that food safety is observed in the stages of purchasing, storage, preparation, defrosting, cooking and when eating.

More than 200 known diseases are transmitted through food. These diseases are divided into two main categories: food poisoning and foodborne infections, which are caused by contaminated food or beverages. Bacteria, toxins, viruses and parasites are the causes of this infection. Clinical signs and symptoms of most food-borne diseases include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps. These symptoms appear on average 24 to 48 hours after infection and last for one to two days. Food-borne diseases can cause long-term health problems. Diseases such as cancer, arthritis and neurological disorders can be caused by contaminated foods.

In children, patients, pregnant women, and the elderly, the consequences of the disease are usually more severe and often more fatal. Some foodborne illnesses can be transmitted from person to person. Those who care for patients may become ill in contact with people with foodborne illness.

Despite the variety of food-borne diseases and the variety of ways they are transmitted, these diseases can be easily prevented by following a set of health instructions and health education to people in the community.

In this regard, Engineer Ali Ezatifar, Director of Food, Beverage and Cosmetics Supervision of Qom University of Medical Sciences, in an interview with ISNA, said that having safe food is healthy and without any contamination and conditions necessary for human health and life. “This issue, along with food security, is an important issue in all governments and times, especially in the present age, and is part of the goals of every government and government,” he said.

He added: “Minimizing the risk of foodborne illness and ensuring food safety is a global concern.” Because unsafe foods can cause more than 200 types of disease and endanger public health.

Ezatifar divided food safety-related contaminants into different categories and said: microbial, chemical, fungal toxins, heavy metals, antibiotics, hormones and food additives, pathogens and parasites, environmental pollutants left behind. There are different categories of these contaminants.

He continued: “Due to the achievement of human societies to high levels of health, the importance of the above cases and pollution has increased more than before, and in our dear country, much attention has been paid to providing healthy and safe food from various aspects.”

The Director of Food, Beverage and Cosmetics Supervision mentioned a lot of training on food safety and added: “Comprehensive training from farm to fork, as well as promoting culture and nutrition literacy should be done by relevant organizations and available to the community.” To be placed. It is necessary to pay attention to the nutritional color marker that has been done by the Food and Drug Administration in recent years and in the labeling of food produced and increases nutritional knowledge and plays an important role in conscious food selection.

He added: “In the health-oriented programs of the Radio and Television Organization, much attention should be paid to the issue of food safety and family health with the aim of increasing the knowledge, skills and nutritional literacy of the people so that there is no problem in this regard.”

Ezatifar pointed out the reasons for the decrease in people’s tendency to traditional foods: with the change of taste in society towards the consumption of ready meals and fast foods, in which they are usually prepared from high-calorie foods and using industrial and semi-industrial processes, and sometimes Food additives are used in their production, distribution and consumption, the tendency of families, especially children, to traditional foods has decreased and serious harm has been done to families.

In the end, Ezzatifar mentioned the most important health and public health challenges in the world as obesity and its complications, which impose huge costs on people and families and reduce the use of this type of food and food safety.