Today, April 7 is the World Health Day. The theme for 2015 is safe food, ?From farm to plate, make food safe?. As per latest finding of WHO, unsafe food is responsible for more than 200 diseases and is linked to the deaths of more than 2 million people annually most of who are children. In Dubai, the Food Control Department of the Dubai Municipality has implemented several regulations to ensure the safety of food that is imported or prepared here. Carrying the motto ?food safety is a shared responsibility,? the department has also been spearheading a lot of initiatives to get the active involvement of all stakeholders in nurturing the food safety culture in the community. Using its mascot Mr Safe, the department periodically conducts food safety awareness programmes for the industry and customers. Grow Your Food initiative that encourages a green revolution through kitchen gardens are some of the major initiatives that the department has introduced and all these have an ultimate aim of ensuring safety of food from farm to fork.

Shoppers in Dubai?s major hypermarkets will receive green apples today. Special discounts on healthy food products and tips on hygiene and safety will be given today. These are some of the ways through which the hypermarket giants here are marking World Health Day in association with the Food Control Department of the Dubai Municipality.  The hypermarkets with the most creative ideas to promote food safety will be honoured with special recognition for their efforts.

Lack of government policies on food and water safety is causing the death of 2.2 million people, including children, every year across the globe, health experts said. The use of pesticides and fertilizers in the past 50 years has grown nearly 170 times. As a consequence, persistent residues of the chemicals contaminate food and disperse in the environment and find their way into the food chain. There has been rampant use of chemicals resulting in several short-term and long-term effects on the human body. High use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides while growing food grains results in food-borne diseases. The lack of surveillance by the government on food adulteration is another big issue that is contributing to the food poisoning among people. Apart from urging the governments of the countries to ensure food safety, they also said that there was a need to work with NGOs to raise awareness among the people.

WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have established the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) to rapidly share information during food safety emergencies. WHO is actively encouraging a change in food production, distribution and consumption. Emerging threats like climate change and its impact on food production emerging biological and environmental contamination new technologies new food borne infections and diseases and antimicrobial resistance pose a huge challenge to the safety of food.