A total of 600 million people — nearly 1 in 10 people across the world, get sick after eating contaminated food items, and 420 000 people die each year, leading to an estimated loss of 33 million good health years.
The children and those who are vulnerable are the most affected by hundreds of foodborne illnesses caused by food that is unsafe and are largely easily preventable. Children younger than five years are afflicted with 40 percent of the burden of foodborne diseases and suffer 125,000 deaths each year.
Foods that are not safe and have harmful viruses, bacteria, or other chemicals can cause more than 200 illnesses that range from diarrhea to cancer, according to the WHO. This creates the vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, affecting infants, children as well as the elderly and sick.
Foodborne diseases hinder socioeconomic growth through straining the health system and affecting the nation’s economy, tourism, and trade. US110 billion dollars are annually lost in terms of productivity and medical costs caused by unsafe food in middle and low-income countries.
“We require a common conception of the authenticity, quality and the safety in our foods. This is why the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission has created an agro-food codes,” Director-General of FAO Qu Dongyu stated.
Food can only be safe if every person involved in its production, distribution and preparation ensures its safety, he added.
Codex Alimentarius Codex Alimentarius has an impact on everyone from food consumer, processors, food producers, and consumers to food control agencies at the national level. Codex is the World Trade Organization’s benchmark quality for food security. It’s more than 60 years now since Codex was introduced.
Standards for food are an effective means to ensure quality and safety according to the most recent guideline. Codex standards are at the core of food security.
“Each year, the “food code” growsnew standards are developed and standards that are already in place are updated when new data is made available. In 2023, the year that Codex is turning 60, we will celebrate the food standards as they define the pathway towards healthy food for all across the globe,” it further stated.
The spillover of the conflict in Sudan is causing massive displacement of people and hunger among people displaced out of their homes in search of a safe haven as well as those who are hosting them, according to the report.
More than a million people are set to flee the country, in addition to another 2.5 million people living in the country will be facing severe hunger in the next few months.
The Sudan is already home to over one million refugees, and if the war continues, hundreds of thousands could be forced to return to the countries from which they came. the place of.
A number of these nations are experiencing chronic refugee crises that are underfunded and long-lasting, which are exacerbated by social, economic, and political stressors in the report.