Post No 18. Food Safety Facts

Source:Canva

Five key food safety facts 

An estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year, resulting in the loss of 33 million healthy life years (DALYs). [1]

US$110 billion is lost each year in productivity and medical expenses resulting from unsafe food in low- and middle-income countries. Diarrhoeal diseases are the most common illnesses resulting from the consumption of contaminated food, causing 550 million people to fall ill and 230 000 deaths every year. [1]

In the European Union (EU), over 91,000 salmonellosis cases are reported annually. The European Food Aafety Authority (EFSA) estimate the overall economic burden of human salmonellosis could be as high as €3 billion a year. [2] 

Campylobacteriosis was the most reported zoonosis in the EU in 2020, with 120,946 cases compared to more than 220,000 the previous year. [3] The impact of the pandemic lockdown in reducing the incidence of human illness associated with zoonosis such as Campylobacter is still being investigated.

In the United States (US) in 2018, the economic burden of the top 15 pathogens was estimated to be about $17.6 billion per annum. [4]

Sources 

[1] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/food-safety

[2] https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/salmonella

[3] https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/campylobacter

[4] https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/cost-estimates-of-foodborne-illnesses/