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