“Safer food, better health”, is the theme for this year’s World Food Safety Day. 7th June of each year would be celebrated as World Food Safety Day (WFSD). The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations decided to celebrate the first food safety day since 7th June 2019.
WFSD aims to inspire and take action to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risk. It also makes an attempt to contribute to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.
If you know what food safety is and maintain it, you can prevent diseases and contribute to a better life for everyone. And it can start from your home. Food safety is all about handling, preparing and keeping the food in the best way to reduce or become sick from foodborne illness.
The five basic rules should be followed to maintain food safety in a kitchen. The first and foremost rule is “washing hands between steps”. It is very regular to wash our hands at the beginning of cooking, but many of us forget to wash our hands between the steps of cooking. When you handle any food again, you need to wash your hands once again.
The second important step is to “sanitize the work surface”. You should have a neat and clean surface to cut vegetables, meats, fish and many other things. Otherwise, it can cause foodborne diseases easily.
Third thing is to use separate cutting boards for raw meats, vegetables and produce, and cooked foods. This rule will keep cross-contamination to a minimum level and it will result in safe and healthy preparation of food.
And then the concern is about temperature. The fourth thing is “cook food at a safe temperature”. It is not necessary that all foods are cooked at the same temperature. Meats and vegetables can not be cooked at the same temperature. So it should be a concern that food must not be overcooked.
The last concern is about “keeping food at their required temperature”. If you won’t maintain the temperature of the food, it may get infected inside. Bacteria and fungi will attack simultaneously. So it is important to keep the food at a safe temperature according to the nature of the damage.
Food Safety is a shared responsibility, which starts from home. This responsibility should be also shared with the government, producers and consumers. So we all should maintain hygiene and make awareness about food safety day among us.
