Wholesome, safe and adequately nutritious food is an essential requirement for sustainable, healthy living, more so for younger generations at development stages. Conversely, improper, and inadequate consumption of food can result in poor health, leading to numerous diseases.

Access to good quality, nutritious food is a basic right and we all want to include nourishing and healthy food in our diets. But is nutrition the only thing that makes food healthy?

According to the statistics released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2020, an estimated 600 million– almost 1 in 10people around the world – fall ill after eating “unsafe” food every year, resulting in 420,000 deaths annually. Thus, while there are many factors to be considered to ensure a diversified and balanced diet, safe and quality food is of utmost importance for an active and healthy lifestyle.

As the saying goes, “No food is nutritious until safe” food safety and nutrition go hand in hand. Nutrient rich food can sometimes prove to be hazardous if consumed in an unsafe form.Therefore, for food to be considered safe and fit for consumption, proper hygiene and safety control measures are necessary across the supply chain. This includes production, processing, storage, and distribution. All these stages are equally importantto ensure food safety standards. If any are compromised, the consequences can be fatal for consumers.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), mishandling and improper hygienic practices are responsible for 30-40 per cent of food borne diseases. Hence, concepts like“Grass to glass” and “Farm to fork” are key in ensuring food safety while preserving wholesomeness and nutritional value, from production to consumption.

Unfortunately however, food supply chains in Pakistan are still outdated and nowhere near global best practices. For example, the milk supply chain, which was formalised and modernised decades ago in advanced countries, is still predominantly (95pc) loose/raw and potentially unsafe in Pakistan – thus negating the very concept of ‘grass to glass’. Loose milk, sold at various locations across Pakistan, is quite often found mixed with water and other toxic contaminants / adulterants like aflatoxin, pathogens, urea, formalin, alkali, and QAC. These contaminants / adulterants not only compromise the nutritional value of the milk but also cause several dairy-related infections and diseases that are sometimes even fatal, especially among children.

Very often we see food authorities raiding dairy shops and storage sites, confiscating and discarding huge amounts of substandard milk. However, adulteration, contamination, and dilution practices cannot be simply controlled by these isolated actions. Henceforth, there is a need to re-orient the entire supply chain, sooner rather than later, as per modern value chain standards ensuring the milk’s safety, nutrition, and traceability at every step.

The modern dairy value chain will encourage farmers to breed and feed animals according to prescribed conditions, industries to adopt safer practices for processing and packaging, and consumers to switch to safer and nutritious options.

While food producers, processors and regulators are responsible for safe and wholesome food supplies, consumer demand for the same is equally critical for sustainability.Today, one of the reasonsfood safety is at risk, especially in Pakistan,is the lack of awareness about the extent and effects of these malpractices on consumer health. While consumers today are mostly aware of the compromised quality of the food they consume, very little conscious effort is made to switch to safer options. This is usually because they are not aware of the hazards that poor-quality food can have on their health.

Unhygienic and adulterated food can cause more than 200 diseases ranging from diarrhea, malnutrition in children to even cancers, compromising the health of masses especially the vulnerable segments like pregnant women, the elderly, and the sick. On a macro-level, in addition to an increasing disease burden, the consumption of unsafe food also goes on to impact the socio-economic development of a country. The World Bank, in 2018, reported that the total productivity loss associated with foodborne diseases in low and middle-income countries was estimated to cost $95.2 billion per year while the annual cost of treating foodborne illnesses is estimated at $15 billion.

These statistics instigate immediate attention towards the need for effective awareness campaigns regarding food safety & nutrition. Consumers should be made aware of the best practices that are essential for food safety.These are as basic as hand washing before and after preparing/handling food, properly washing and categorising food items and storing under the right conditions, checking nutrition labels and expiry dates before buying, and cooking and cleaning in a safe environment.

Similarly, ensuring the right freezing (≤-18 °C) and refrigeration (≤ 4 °C) temperatures, keeping food out of danger zones during service (≥65 °C or ≤ 5 °C), regularly cleaning & disinfecting the refrigerators, segregating raw and cooked food, keeping the surface and utensils used for both categories of food separately, and minimal cooking to the core temperature of 75 °C for at least two minutes are among few key practices that must be ensured at the household level. These basic, but easily adaptable habits can significantly improve food safety and can warrant that the consumption serves its intended purpose -nutrition.

Making people aware of safety and health standards will not only help them at a personal level but can also lead towards collective public action for better food control systems and policies.Growing awareness and actions have pushed governments and regulators to ensure that the food industry produces packaging with detailed labels, appropriately informing the people of the production and quality of their products. This awareness and understanding protect consumers’ rights and gives them a choice to select the best possible product amongst the available options, there by generating the demand for safe & nutritious food.

Therefore, it is vital to ensure that consumers are aware that both food safety and nutrition are important, inter-connected, and vital for their wellbeing. This increased consumer awareness will consequently help put the pressure on food businesses and authorities for bridging the gaps on their respective ends to improve nutrition and to ensure that only safe food options are available on market shelves.

Dr Muhammad Nasir

— The writer is 

General Manager, 

Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan Ltd.