Food Safety: A Public Health Priority

Introduction: Food safety is the assurance that food and food products when consumed in the usual way does not pose a threat to human health and well-being. More than 200 known foodborne diseases or illnesses are transmitted as a result of eating or drinking contaminated food (1). The causes of foodborne illnesses include viruses, bacteria, parasites, toxins, metals and prions. Some of the common symptoms of foodborne illnesses range from mild gastroenteritis to life-threatening neurological, hepatic and renal syndromes. According to the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC), foodborne diseases have been reported to double over the past three years in Trinidad, with the highest incidence occurring in 2005 (2). The World Health Organization has reported that 1.8 million people from developing countries die each year as a result of foodborne diseases. In the United States, foodborne diseases have been estimated to cause 6 million to 81 million illnesses and up to 9,000 deaths each year (3-6). However, ongoing unexpected changes in the food supply, the identification of new foodborne diseases and the re-emergence of dormant or existing foodborne diseases have made these figures obsolete and have unnerved the need for fresh insights into food safety. It is undisputable fact that foodborne disease takes a major toll on human health and well being, especially on fragile health care systems in the Caribbean and other developing countries. Thousands of millions of people are afflicted with foodborne diseases, fall ill and many die as a result of eating unsafe food. In a response to this concern, the Fifty-third World Health Assembly (May, 2000) adopted a resolution calling upon the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Member States including Trinidad and Tobago to recognize food safety as an essential public health function with the aim of reducing the burden of foodborne disease globally (3-6). Food Safety: A Basic Human Right The United Nations and WHO have deemed the availability of safe food a basic human right (7). Safe food contributes to health, which in turns translates into economic productivity that may serve to alleviate poverty. The poor and the underprivileged persons in communities, societies, populations and countries are the most vulnerable to ill health. Food and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases, for example, are leading causes of illness and death among the poor and unprivileged, killing an estimated 1.8-2.2 million people annually, most of whom are children (7). Diarrhea is the most common symptom of foodborne illness, but other serious consequences may include kidney, liver failure, brain and neural disorders often resulting in death. The debilitating long-term complications of foodborne diseases may have a devastating effect on families, communities, populations and countries often leading to decreased productivity, increased economic burden on fragile economies and health care systems. Economic Consequences of Foodborne Diseases: There are only limited data on the economic consequences of food contamination and foodborne disease in developing countries. In studies in the USA in 1995, it was estimated that the annual cost of the 3.3-12 million cases of foodborne illness caused by seven pathogens was US $6.5-35 billion. The medical costs and the value of the lives lost during just five foodborne outbreaks in England and Wales in 1996 were estimated at UK