Food safety in the Western Pacific

Access to sufficient amounts of safe and healthy food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health. However, unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances can cause more than 200 diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to cancers.

Around the world, 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). Children under 5 years of age are at particular risk, and account for 125 000 deaths every year.

Examples of unsafe food include uncooked foods of animal origin, fruits and vegetables contaminated with faeces, and raw shellfish containing marine biotoxins. 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.