Unsafe food causes 600 million infections & 4.2 lakhs deaths every year: FSSAI CEO

The summit aims to create a global platform of food regulators to exchange perspectives on strengthening food safety systems and regulatory framework across the food value chain.

“Safe food and good health are complementary to each other. Balanced, safe and nutritious food acts as preventive care, and ensures our health and wellness. It is critically important to deep dive into issues of food grains, food safety, and food security for global sustainable development,” said health minister Mansukh Mandaviya who was present at the event.

He said that as different geographical regions are characterized by agro-climatic diversities, no one standard can be applied to food safety protocols. “We need to be explored how regional diversities can be factored into global best practices”, Mandaviya said.

He urged participating countries to work collectively as food shortage is a global problem requiring collaborative solutions.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general, World Health Organization, in a video message said, “We must collectively ensure that everyone everywhere enjoys access to safe and nutritious food.”

The event saw the release of Food-o-Copoeia, an online guide prepared by global food regulators that captures requirements related to quality, safety, labelling, claims, documents, regulations, prohibitions etc for a specific food product and a common digital dashboard platform for food regulators.

Updated: 20 Jul 2023, 01:24 PM IST