When the development community talks about food security, discussions generally focus on the quantity and quality of food, with safety only cropping up whenever a major health outbreak occurs.
That shouldn’t be the case. Chemical substances, viruses, parasites and bacteria in food pose serious health risks, which may not only lead to acute and chronic infections, but also increase nutrient deficiencies and reduce nutrient absorption.
And yet the international development community hasn’t given food safety the attention it deserves. That’s according to Angelika Tritscher, the World Health Organization’s risk assessment and management coordinator for its food safety and zoonoses department.