Port-of-Spain, 7 June 2019 (PAHO/WHO) - World Food Safety Day was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018 and was celebrated this year 2019, under the theme, “Food Safety, everyone’s business.”
According to the World Health Organization there is an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne diseases annually. Children under the age of 5 carry a whopping 40% of foodborne diseases with 125 000 deaths annually.
The accessibility of sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food is not only integral to the sustenance of life and the promotion of good health but also key in ensuring that socioeconomic progress is not impeded as health care systems, tourism and trade rely on safe and nutritious foods.
THIS YEAR’S COMMEMORATION
In commemoration of World Food Safety Day 2019 the Pan American Health Organization collaborated with the National Food Safety Committee, The Ministry of Agriculture, and the Faculty of Agriculture, University of the West Indies held a display and public forum to raise awareness about food safety.
PAHO’S CONTRIBUTION TO FOOD SAFETY IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
- Build capacity for food safety regulation among competent authorities
- Provide technical and financial support to the development of national food safety policy in Trinidad and Tobago.
- The development of a food handler’s manual by PAHO and the FAO for Caribbean food inspectors on risk-based food inspection.
- Joining forces with the Caribbean Health Public Agency (CARPHA) to strengthen food-borne surveillance in Caribbean.
- Additionally, PAHO has supported a project with the public the public health inspectorates under the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government (city, borough and regional corporations) to harmonize the requirements to register food handlers in Trinidad and Tobago.
