Dr. Harsh Vardhan digitally addresses FSSAI’s World Food Safety Day Event

“Foodborne diseases are a growing concern, costing us almost 15 billion USD annually”: Dr. Harsh Vardhan

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfarevirtually attended the Word Food Safety Day celebrations today organized by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The day is celebrated worldwide to draw attention to the fact that food is not only an agricultural or trade commodity but is also a public health issue.

At the outset, The Minister noted that the call to action for all key stakeholders on this year’s World Food Safety Day is to ensure that the food we eat is safe and nutritious.

Explaining his comment, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “Food safety must be integrated along the entire food chain, from farm to table, with the three sectors — government, industry, and consumers — with all the three sharing equal responsibility. It is also necessary that food safety forms an essential component of health-based nutrition policies and nutrition education. We aim to inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risk and by doing so we shall be contributing towards food security, human health, economic prosperity, market access, and sustainable development.”

To bring home the point that Food safety is one of the determinants of a sound and cohesive healthcare system in a country, he stated: “As food chains become longer, complex and globalized, contamination of food leading to foodborne diseases is a growing concern, costing us almost 15 billion USD annually. By 2030, foodborne diseases are expected to rise to 150 to 177 million annually.”

With the resurgence of COVID-19 across the globe, there is a sharpened focus on safe food, nutrition, immunity, and sustainability. In this regard, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “It has become all the more important to focus on preventive healthcare as it minimizes the burden of diseases and helps in tackling the rising burden of diet-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and malnutrition.”

Improving food safety requires sustained investments in several areas, from stronger regulations, to better laboratories for testing of food, more stringent enforcement of the regulations at the ground level, and surveillance along with training and capacity building of food handlers. The minister highlighted that the government’s flagship initiative ‘Eat Right India’ needs to be turned into a national movement in order to transform the food ecosystem of the country by ensuring safe, healthy, and sustainable food for everyone.

“This year’s World Food Safety Day theme – ‘Safe Food for a healthy tomorrow’, highlights that the production and consumption of safe food have immediate and long-term benefits for people, the planet, and the economy,” he stated.

The Dr. Harsh Vardhan ended his speech inviting everybody present to take a pledge to share the responsibility of food safety and address the issues associated with it holistically.

The whole address can be viewed at https://youtu.be/P6sKME3H3pg