Food Safety, Worlds Most Major Concern

By: Putrika Citta Pramesi (14/369486/TP/11122)

Food safety is a major concern for many countries. It is closely related to health and
productivity of the population and directly associated with competitiveness of food and
agricultural products in the international trade arena. The International Conference on
Nutrition held in Rome in 1992 adopted the World Declaration and the Plan of Action for
Nutrition, calling governments and other concerned parties to adopt and strengthen
comprehensive measures to cover the control of food quality and safety with a view of
protecting the health of consumers. However, since obtaining food for a large segment of the
population is often still a challenge, the food safety issue is often overlooked.
It is realized that assurance of todays consumer demands that their food supply is
protected from every aspect, such as contaminations by pathogenic microorganisms, chemical
residues and physical hazards, even from deception or fraud in the form of misleading claims
and descriptions on labeling or in advertising. Nowadays, food industries do not only need to
comply with mandatory legislation set by food safety authorities, but also with trade
specifications set by trade or industry organizations.

As an international organization that work in the field of health, World Health

Organization or also known as WHO, had simplify the important points to improve food safety
for us. WHO has long been aware of the need to educate food handlers about their
responsibilities for food safety. In the early 1990s, WHO developed the Ten Golden Rules for
Safe Food Preparation, which were widely translated and reproduced. However, it became
obvious that something simpler and more generally applicable was needed. After nearly a year
of consultation with food safety experts and risk communicators, WHO introduced the Five
Keys to Safer Food poster in 2001. The core messages of the Five Keys to Safer Food are: (1)
keep clean; (2) separate raw and cooked; (3) cook thoroughly; (4) keep food at safe
temperatures; and (5) use safe water and raw materials.
The Five Keys to Safer Food explain the basic principles that each individual should
know all over the world to prevent food borne diseases. Over 100 countries have reported
using the Five Keys to Safer Food to build educational programs. As a result, thousands of food
handlers, including consumers, are empowered to prevent food borne diseases, make safe and
informed choice to protect the health of their family and the community, and will have a voice
to push for a safer food supply. Based on the success of the Five Keys to Safer Food concept,
WHO develops additional messages and materials to promote hygienic practices along the farm
to table continuum.

From The Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture
recently founds a shocking discovery about Food Poisoning in America. This food borne has
been costing United States about $15,600,000,000 yearly. Disease outcomes include both acute
illness and chronic disease that sometimes follow these acute illnesses. The 15 pathogens
studied account for over 95 percent of the illnesses and deaths from food borne illnesses
acquired in the United States. There are 7 most active pathogens that cause food poisoning,
which are Campylobacter, E. coli O157:H7, non-E. Coli O157:H7shiga-toxin producing E. coli,
Listeria, Norovirus, Salmonella and Shigella.
While in our country the major issue is Gastroenteritis and Food/Waterborne Diseases.
Gastroenteritis is very common in Indonesia due to ineffective public health controls and poor
hygiene standards. The overall incidence of food- and water-borne disease is very high
compared to the Western world. The traveler or resident needs to take great care and personal
responsibility for maintaining a supply of safe food and drinking water due to this high risk of
food poisoning from bacteria, parasites, or diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery,
amoebiasis, and giardiasis.
It is common in Indonesia for doctors to prescribe antibiotics. If the gastroenteritis is
caused by bacteria, antibiotics may shorten the course of the illness. Your doctor should do a
stool culture so that the pathogenic cause can be identified and treatment specifically targeted.
Medication is often prescribed to harden stools or slow down bowel activity. In specific
circumstances such as boarding an airplane or attending an important meeting, they can be
useful to controlling the symptoms but do not hasten the recovery process. Anti-emetic drugs
such as primperan are also often prescribed to stop vomiting, though these should be avoided
for children.

Food can be contaminated with unwanted things in every process from the material was
prepared, its processing, even when it is consumed, food is most likely to be contaminated.
False handling when it was process can lead into an outbreak of food poisoning. Therefore, it is
highly crucial for food business people to know how to handle food. Many reported food safety
problems in Indonesia are caused by basic errors in preparing foods, due to lack of knowledge
of basic food safety. Although not well documented, available data on food safety problems
confirmed this statement. In general, the food safety concerns were associated with lack of
knowledge and poor practice, including poor sanitation and hygiene.
Especially for processed foods, the problem is magnified by the use of non-food grade
additives. The use of illegal colorants such as methanyl yellow and rhomdamine B has been
reported in syrup and street food sold in school areas. Chemicals such as boric acid and
formaldehyde have been found to be used as food preservative. Furthermore, several food
grade additives, such as artificial sweeteners, saccharine and cyclamate, are sometimes used in
concentrations exceeding the recommended ones.


The problem in our country is lack of knowledge about food safety. Our country doesnt
realize how our governments had made an agreement with Australia to improve food safety in
Indonesia. Since 1998, a team of Indonesian and Australian specialists has been funded by the
Indonesian Government, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the
Australian Government Analytical Laboratories (AGAL) to improve food safety in Indonesia and
through this improve public health and increase trade. The team has developed and introduced
a national Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS). The IFSS is based on the WHO
document Guidelines for Strengthening National Food Safety Programs.
By identifying key stakeholders and the responsibilities of the National Agency for Drug
and Food Control (NADFC), Republic of Indonesia it was possible to map the Indonesian system
against the WHO model. Three functional stakeholder groups were identified and the team
realized that the WHO model could be refined to better fit with Indonesia's existing system and
at the same time reflect risk analysis principles. The resultant National Integrated Food Safety
System model implements risk analysis principles on a national level through three networks:
(i) Food Intelligence Network (Risk assessment), (ii) Food Control Network (Risk management),
and (iii) Food Promotion Network (Risk communication). The National Integrated Food Safety
System was officially launched by Coordinator Minister for People's Welfares at the NADFC in
Jakarta on May 13, 2004.
These networks have already arranged three sub-programs that were developed to put
policy into practice at national, provincial and local levels. These programs are:

Food Watch - a national food monitoring program that:

o

uses analytical results to identify food safety problems,

works with key stakeholders to find practical solutions and

produces user-friendly reports/information for industry to improve practices

Food Stars - a voluntary award program that introduces three levels of food safety
training across all industry sectors from paddock to plate. The levels are as follows:
o

one star - basic hygiene training,

two star - good manufacturing practice/ good agricultural practice etc depending
on the industry sector

three star - implementation of a food safety program based on hazard analysis

critical control point principles (HACCP)

Rapid Response - a future program to enable effective communication between

agencies during times of crisis and also includes strategies for food recalls etc.
***

WHO aims to improve the exchange and reapplication of practical food safety
knowledge among Member States by having them exchange experiences and tested solutions.
A section of the WHO Food Safety web site was designed to enable countries and partners to
access the different tools produced in different parts of the world. One can actively contribute
to the success of delivering the Five Keys to Safer Food public health message and prevent food
borne disease by exchanging ideas, materials and experiences.
These are five keys to a safer food by WHO:
Keep clean
Just because something looks clean does not mean that it is. It takes over 2.5 billion
bacteria to make 250 ml of water look cloudy, but in some cases it takes only 15-20
pathogenic bacteria to make one sick. If slaughtering of animals at home is practiced in
your region, the following information is very important.
-

Keep the area clean and separate from food preparation areas.
Change clothes and wash hands and equipment after slaughtering.
Do not slaughter sick animals.
Be aware of on-going diseases in your area such as avian influenza. Human health
risks from these diseases may require additional controls such as using personal
protective gear. Contact the local government authority for further information.
Keep domestic and other live animals away from the food growing, preparation and
storage areas (e.g. pets, poultry, animals raised in the home).
Separate raw and cooked

Keeping raw and prepared food separate prevents the transfer of microorganisms. Crosscontamination is a term used to describe the transfer of microorganisms form raw to
cooked food. Separation must occur not only when cooking, but during all phases of food
preparation including slaughtering process. Liquids used for marinating raw meet should
not be poured over the meat when it is cooked and ready to eat.
Cook thoroughly
Dangerous microorganisms can be killed if we prepare our foods properly. It has been
shown that cooking food to a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius can help ensure it is safe
for consumption. Foods that require special attention include minced meats, rolled roasts,
large joints of meat and whole poultry.
Most people nowadays used microwave oven as a heater for frozen food. But microwaves
ovens can cook unevenly and leave cold spots where dangerous bacteria can survive. We
have to make sure that food cooked in a microwave oven is at a safe temperature
throughout. Some plastic containers release toxic chemicals upon heating and should not
be used in the microwave to heat food.

Keep food at safe temperatures

As it has been shown before, Microorganisms can multiply very quickly if food is stored at
room temperature. Microorganisms cannot multiply if it is too hot or too cold. Cooling or
freezing food does not kill microorganisms but limit its growth. Normally microorganisms
multiply faster at higher temperatures. But once temperatures reach 50C, most
microorganisms do not multiply. Left-over food can be cooled quickly by: putting the food
onto open trays, slicing large pieces of meat into smaller pieces; placing food in a cool,
clean container; or stirring regularly for soups.
Use safe water and raw materials
Untreated water from rivers and canals contain parasites and pathogens which can cause
diarrhea, typhoid or dysentery. Rainwater collected in clean tanks is safe as long as the
tanks are protected from contamination from birds or other animals.
Boiling, chlorination and filtration are important means to inactive microbial pathogens,
but do not remove harmful chemicals. To disinfect water:
-

Bring to a rolling boil;

Add 3 - 5 drops of chlorine to 1 liter of water; or
Physically remove pathogens with appropriate filter
***

As the worlds major concern, food safety has shown its feature as one of the aspect
that we have to consider as we cant live without consuming food. We should be more up to
date with this issue, especially the ones that occurs in our own country so that we can socialize
more about it and remind the society about food safety.