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Healthy food and nutrient for consumers

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Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Providing safe and nutritious food is a responsibility shared by all stakeholders, across the food chain. It is therefore put in place effective systems and to ensure full participation and a lasting commitment of all concerned in each link in the chain. Despite tremendous scientific and technological progress and a general improvement of food systems in the world, food-borne diseases persist and constitute a serious concern for public health authorities and consumers. The foods are vectors of biological, chemical or physical disability. The attitude of consumers is changing, at least in developed countries, and risks to food becoming more socially unacceptable. On the other hand, consumers are demanding ever more food to ensure a safe and nutritious food. Several avenues have been explored to ensure consumers the safety and nutritional value of foods they consume. One of the strategies recommended by FAO is in establishing a food system effective and comprehensive, based on the approach of the food chain. The operational objective is to ensure that food features of safety scientifically established, while ensuring a proper balance between other relevant factors such as technical feasibility, cost and social considerations, ethical and environmentally friendly. A global food system must submit a number of characteristics: A dynamic interdependence of all stakeholders - both public and private - through partnerships and through their participation in decision-making process. The roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders in the food chain must be clearly established as the necessary links to ensure a participatory action, coordinated and cohesive. Food safety must be taken into account at all levels of the food chain, from production to consumption. An adequate infrastructure must be in place and appropriate technology will be applied to each link in the food chain. Decision-making must be based on scientific evidence and risk analysis will be carried out at all levels of the chain. Effective mechanisms and controlling risks to food safety must be in place, as well as a capacity for rapid intervention in times of crisis. An ability to cope with everyday problems, but also to address future challenges. Consumers must be able to choose, in full knowledge of the facts, safe and nutritious food, the system has sufficient flexibility to cope with changing perceptions of consumers over time. Measures on Food Safety integrated into the system must take into account the general regulatory frameworks that govern human health and that of animals and plants. In developed countries, food systems have many of these characteristics. Significant improvements, however, can be made to strengthen consumer confidence. In particular, it is possible to improve the resistance elements within the food chain, consolidate the foundation of scientific decisions and providing organizational support for effective participation of all concerned in institutional debate. In developing countries, food systems are very diverse and often have many weaknesses. They are being strained by problems that compromise the safety, health and food quality, thus exposing consumers to a series of food safety risks. The consumer awareness to issues concerning food safety is inadequate, and often in conjunction with the absence of organizations of consumers organized and well informed. The establishment of systems of food safety, complete and effective in developing countries (as in countries in transition), requires an increase in capacity and significant investments in institutions and infrastructure. In this context, the FAO advocates, to ensure food safety and nutritious food, adopting a strategy based on the approach of the food chain.   The dimensions of the problem The food systems range from producers to consumers (ie "farm to fork") and have an international reach. Ensuring adequate supplies of food in terms of availability, nutritional quality and safety, is a more complex process requiring significant efforts from all stakeholders, from one end to another system food. Over the years, as agriculture and marketing systems evolved to supply food to a growing population, complex process based both on cultural choices and food than on science and technology have been developed to identify, assess and manage risks associated with the food supply. However, despite the scientific and technological progress, and improvement of systems of control of food in the world, food-borne diseases remain a serious concern for consumers. While we seek to resolve issues concerning food availability and nutritional adequacy of food, public sensitivity to the problems of food safety has increased considerably in developed countries . This is largely due to fears raised by the BSE epidemic and outbreaks of foodborne diseases caused by microbial contamination of food or toxic chemicals such as dioxins. Concerns about the safety of genetically modified organisms, and resonance given to them by the media, have influenced the perception of risks associated with these new trends. Food safety is an issue that developing countries are concerned also more and more. Yet often it is not considered a priority in these societies, especially in the poorest consumers. Food safety is only part of a wide range of issues that extend beyond the avoidance of biological pathogens transmitted through food, toxic chemicals and other risks. Consumers in developed countries now expect much more than healthy foods. They claim foodstuffs able to meet their nutritional needs, which are healthy and produced in accordance with ethical principles and respect for the environment and the health and welfare of animals. But in developing countries, it is more concerned with issues such as access and availability of nutritious foods throughout the year and at relatively low cost. As was reaffirmed at the World Food Summit of 1996, access to safe and nutritious food is a right of all human beings. Providing safe and nutritious food is intimately linked to the concept of food security. It provides a platform for effective poverty reduction and economic and social development, while opening up and expanding business opportunities. However, to ensure food safety has a cost, and excessive demands in this area could impose constraints on the level of production systems, storage and distribution, which would eventually hamper international trade or hinder competitiveness. The responsibility for safe and nutritious food is tantamount to all stakeholders in the food system, ie to all those who produce, process or handle food, from production to storage, until the final consumption. It also covers the interplay of forces scientific, legal and regulatory, social and economic, nationally and globally. The challenge is to develop effective food systems that ensure full and effective participation and a lasting commitment of all concerned so that the final result is the provision of safe and nutritious food to consumers. The foods are potential vectors of many biological, chemical or physical, and certainly that of various nutritional problems. Box 1 below gives some examples.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 29 June 2008 )

 

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