Background Information
Food borne illnesses is a term that
describes a range of symptoms resulting from eating food
contaminated with living germs or poisons they produce. Symptoms
can range from mild nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea to severe
illness resulting in hospital admission or rarely, even death.
Contrary to popular belief, illness is usually not caused by the
last thing you ate, in illnesses such as Listeria infection,
illness can occur weeks after eating the contaminated food. The
incidence of food borne illness in New Zealand has reached
alarming levels. An estimated 200,000 or more cases
of food borne illness occur each year. Rates of Camphylobacter
and Salmonella infection reached record highs in 1998. The
number of cases of Camphylobacter infection notified to public
health authorities was 11,580 in 1998. The
New Zealand rate is three times that of Australia and twice that
of the United Kingdom.
Increasing efforts have been made by the
food industry and agencies responsible of regulating food safety
in New Zealand over the last decade to reduce illness. However,
education of the consumer in matters of food safety has not been
a focus. It has been estimated that 20-40% of food
borne illness is attributed to incorrect handling of food by the
consumer. There is a spectrum of responsibility for food safety,
which commences with the producer, extends through
manufacturers, distributors, retailers and ends with the
consumer. A ‘paddock to plate’ approach to food safety is
required if New Zealand is to reduce its high levels of food
borne illness. All New Zealanders are food consumers and, and if
they handle food properly, can provide a crucial last line of
defence against food borne illness. In order to prevent food
borne illness, the public don’t need
to become food hygiene experts and the kitchen does
not need to be a sterile place. There are only a limited number
of germs that are able to cause food borne illness and in
general, these are introduced into the kitchen by unclean hands
or on raw food. Analysis of the causes of outbreaks of food
borne illness points to a few key safety actions, which if
observed, will reduce the chances of illness in the home. The
four key safety actions are the four ‘C’:
Clean, Cook, Cover, Chill
Last year after working
three years for MAF VA I have visited many institutions
such as:
World Trade Organization, World
health Organization, United Nation Offices in Rome
(FAO), Geneva, Vienna and New York etc. which resulted in
being accepted as an International Food Safety Consultant for
United Nations.
I have recently completed a mission as part
of a UNIDO project in Jordan. My role was to assess the food
safety assurance system.
The training of 120 people from
different ministry’s and industries etc. in
HACCP principles, SPS-TBT
Agreement, Codex Alimentarius Standard and their
procedures development, good manufacturing practices and
the EU/US standards has been successfully completed.
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