How safe is the food you’re consuming? Do you know where it came from? What journey has it taken to get to your plate? In honour of World Health Day, The World Health Organization are educating and informing people on the best ways to ensure food hygiene.
- 2 million deaths are caused every year due to contaminated food and water. This
astonishing figure is growing due to the constant globalization of food. - 200 diseases come from different foods.
- Diseases found in contaminated food can cause symptoms ranging from standard food poisoning sickness all the way to cancers and parasites.
- Food-borne disease affects socio-economic development by putting strain on healthcare services.
- Any type of food you consume has probably crossed several national borders which means good collaboration between governments is vital for food safety.
- Its predicted that climate change will affect food safety as temperature changes modify food production, storage and distribution.
What can you do?
Whether you’re a teacher, parent or guardian, the WHO have plenty of materials to help you read up on food safety so that you can share knowledge with younger people.
Educating children from an early age about the dangers of food contamination is vital for their future food safety. The World Health Organization have also made a number of resources that would be great for either use in the classroom or at home.
This video was produced and distributed by the World Health Organization, focusing on the five keys to safer food. Its an animated video that would be great for showing to classes and building the base of a quick food safety awareness class.
This WHO questionnaire (PDF) asks five simple questions which test food safety knowledge. Print these off and hand them out at the end of your food safety lesson to see how much information pupils have retained and you’ll know if you need to go back over anything.
There are an array of posters and other images on the World Health Organizations website like this How safe is your food poster.
Let us know in the comments below if you decide to use any of the materials above to talk to your class of children about food safety.
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