Whether we are farmers or fishermen, shop owners, canteen operators or consumers, food is an integral part of Pacific lives. It is important to ensure the quality and safety of the food we eat to keep us healthy. This World Health Day we celebrate by focusing on food safety in our Pacific communities.
Farm to plate: Making food safe in the Pacific
Whether we are farmers or fishermen, shop owners, canteen operators, or consumers, food is an integral part of our lives. Where we get the food we consume in the Pacific Islands has changed a lot over recent decades. While many of us consume what we grow and catch, we now rely increasingly on shops and take-aways. This can be a real time-saver for families, but it is important to ensure the quality and safety of the food we eat to keep us healthy.
Every year the World Health Organization identifies a critical health area to be highlighted on World Health Day (April 7). This year, it is food safety - something that affects every single one of us, every day. Food can be unsafe because it is contaminated with or contains high levels of chemicals or other substances (e.g., mercury in fish, pesticides), or of viruses, parasites, mould or bacteria (such as salmonella or hepatitis A) or has begun to decompose (e.g., out of date product).
Risks to food safety in the Pacific
There are many steps in the process from ‘farm to plate’ and risks to food safety can be introduced anywhere among these steps. In many Pacific island countries, locally grown fruits and vegetables are readily available at markets. Ensuring these are safely grown and stored - for example by protecting fields from animal faecal contamination, evaluating and managing irrigation water and protecting produce post-harvest, so it’s clean and dry – means people will have access to a safe source of fresh fruits and vegetables from our farms.
We still regularly hear of ciguatera fish poisoning outbreaks (from eating contaminated reef fish). This generally follows unusual weather, which affects the algae that fish feed on, and has been seen in many Pacific islands in the last few years. Fish may also be contaminated due to pollution of their surrounding water. Poor factory conditions, insufficient packaging or inappropriate storage facilities, may allow pests or other harmful agents to contaminate foods. Poor storage of products, for example when a frozen product is allowed to defrost and then refreeze, increases the potential for contamination.
You can help ensure food is safe and healthy
In our shops, we sometimes find expired packaged foods, and incomplete or missing labelling, which makes choosing healthy options more difficult. Many processed foods contain added salt and sugars about which consumers are unaware. In some cases labels are in foreign languages which are hard to understand, where we might have to guess the contents from a picture on the label.
This is happening alongside the growing problems of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and other diet-related diseases, which are also heavily affected by our changing food supply. In some parts of the region, half of the adolescents are obese, and in many countries over 30% of the adult population is diabetic. A healthy diet is one way to contribute to controlling the risk factors for these diseases.
As a consumer everyone has a role to play. When purchasing food in the shops you can:
- report to store owners and the authorities any expired or damaged food products or facilities that are unclean; and
- check the labels before you buy - is it damaged, will you be able to consume the product before it expires? Food labels contain lots of useful information, such as where the food was made, who made it, nutrition content and storage instructions
Across the Pacific region, WHO is supporting countries to update their legislation and responses, to strengthen food package labelling and ensure our food supply is safe. This means introducing food safety acts that empower environmental health officers to inspect all foods and food establishments, and confiscate suspect products or close down unhygienic facilities.
The 5 keys of food safety:
- Keep clean (food areas, hands, food utensils)
- Separate raw and cooked food
- Cook food thoroughly, especially if rewarming leftovers
- Keep food at safe temperatures – make sure your fridge is cold enough.
- Use safe water and raw materials. Cooking bad meat or fish will not make it safe to eat.
World Health Day this year is a call for everyone to take responsibility for making food safe from farm and ocean to plate. WHO helps countries to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risk to ensure food safety along the entire food chain from production to consumption.
For more information:
Wendy Snowdon
Technical Officer
WHO, Suva
Telephone: +679 777 9710
Email: snowdonw@wpro.who.int
Saula Volavola
Communications Officer
WHO, Suva
Telephone: +679 330 4600
E-mail: volavolar@wpro.who.int