According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 400,000 people die every year after eating spoiled food. Almost a tenth of humanity gets sick once a year by eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemicals. The United Nations wants to work to make food safer.
„This is a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the dangers of contaminated food, with governments, producers, carriers and consumers,“ said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. „From the farm to the plate – everyone involved must help to keep the food clean.“
For every euro spent on education on how food is safely produced and stored, ten euros could be saved, because fewer people would get sick and leave the workplace, according to the WHO. It estimates the productivity loss from such failures in low- and middle-income countries at $ 95 billion a year.
