New Delhi, Jun 8 (FN Agency) Food-borne diseases cost India almost USD 15 billion annually which is likely to rise 150-170 million every year by 2030. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan gave this data and said contamination of food leading to food borne diseases is a growing concern in the country.
“As food chains become longer, complex and globalized, contamination of food leading to food borne diseases is a growing concern, costing us almost 15 billion USD annually. By 2030, food borne diseases are expected to rise to 150 to 177 million annually,” said the minister on Food Safety Day on Monday. As the resurgence of COVID-19 across the globe, sharpening the focus on safe food, nutrition and immunity, “It has become all the more important to focus on preventive healthcare as it minimizes the burden of diseases and helps in tackling the rising burden of diet-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and malnutrition.”
Harsh Vardhan said food safety must be integrated along the entire food chain, from farm to table, with the three sectors — government, industry and consumers — sharing equal responsibility. “It is also necessary that food safety forms an essential component of health-based nutrition policies and nutrition education,” Harsh Vardhan said. He said that improving food safety required sustained investments in several areas, from stronger regulations, to better laboratories for testing of food, more stringent enforcement of the regulations at the ground level, and surveillance along with training and capacity building of food handlers. The minister said that the government’s flagship initiative ‘Eat Right India’ needs to be turned into a national movement in order to transform the food ecosystem of the country by ensuring safe, healthy and sustainable food for everyone.