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World Food Safety Day 2024: Every year on 7 June, the world celebrates Food Safety Day (WFSD). The United Nations established this day to highlight the necessity of preventing, detecting, and managing foodborne issues in order to ensure food safety for all. World Food Safety Day is observed jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with the support of Member States and other relevant organizations. WFSD is observed under a specific theme annually. This year, the theme of World Food Safety Day 2024 is 'Food Safety: Prepare for the Unexpected'.
WFSD presents an opportunity to intensify efforts aimed at ensuring the safety of the food consumed by humans. Food safety is a human right, and everyone has the right to consume safe and nutritious food. Celebrating this day offers a reminder to the need for effective food safety measures to prevent food borne illness. Let us read about some myths and facts about food safety below.
According to WHO, following are some of the myths and facts about food safety.
Fact: It is difficult to know whether a food is safe to eat or not by its smell. Most disease causing microorganisms don't alter the smell of food.
Fact: The change in the appearance or shape of food doesn't help in determining the quality of food. Disease spreading microorganisms do not change the shape of food.
Many people believe that if food is dropped on floor, it is safe to eat, if consumed immediately. However, people should avoid eating dropped food in all circumstances because it is instantly contaminated by disease causing microorganisms.
Fact: It is recommended to avoid washing raw poultry before cooking because doing so will spread the harmful microorganisms to hands, utensils, and other foods.
Fact: It is recommended to thaw frozen foods in the cold water or refrigerator because thawing foods at room temperature makes them prone to contamination by diseases causing microorganisms.
Fact: Leftover food should be always refrigerated. Keeping it outside makes it unsafe for consumption.
Fact: All foods including organic should be properly washed before consumption to remove contaminants, chemicals, and microorganisms.
Fact: Some microorganisms take longer than usual to spread disease. Therefore, it is highly possible that you can get sick from contaminated food that you consumed few days ago.
(Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated by AI and published after the content was editorially modified and verified by a human based on their own judgement and expertise. The Quint does not publish AI-generated content without direct human involvement and oversight).
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