The NUMS Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), Rawalpindi celebrated “World Food Safety Day, 2021” on 7th June 2021. World Food Safety is celebrated every year on 7th of June to reduce the risk of food borne diseases, to improve health and agriculture and to attain sustainable development goals.
Health of people, animals and environment is so interconnected that any food hazards can disturb the trade, economy, and public health of the population. According to World Health Organization, global burden of food borne disease is affecting individuals of all ages, particularly children under 5 years and people living in low-income countries. Therefore, United Nation General Assembly proclaimed in 2018 that 7th June of every year will be celebrated as World Food Safety Day. Later in 2020, World Health Assembly further passed a resolution to strengthen the global efforts for food safety and to reduce the burden of food borne diseases.
It is a shared responsibility between Governments, Producers and Consumers from farm to table that what we are eating is safe and healthy. The theme for the current year’s world food safety day is “Safe Food Today for a Health Tomorrow” emphasizing on the production and consumption of safe food contributing to immediate and long-term benefits for people, the planet, and the economy.
The event started with the Recitation of the verses from the Holy Quran. After that, Dr. Sehar Iqbal, who is working as Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, welcomed the participants and gave a brief overview regarding world food safety day. Following that, Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman, who was the resource person for the event, presented his talk on Food Safety. He is a PhD in Clinical Nutrition and has got vast experience of working in this field, both in Pakistan as well as Saudi Arabia. He focused on the importance of food safety in his talk and mentioned the various ways in which we can ensure that the food we are consuming is not only nutritious, but also safe in terms of health and free from contaminants.
Dr. Rehman also highlighted various sources of food contamination in our daily life and suggested practical tips for improving food safety at our kitchens and food processing areas. His talk was followed by an extensive Question & Answer session, which went on for more than 30 minutes. Today’s session was attended by 50+ online participants and 10 participants in person. At the end of the session, Dr. Sehar Iqbal presented a souvenir to the guest speaker in recognition of his valuable talk.
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