Seemab Iqbal, Green Blogger

Ensuring healthy and nutritious food for all over the world is a challenge. Varieties of food we consume have a direct influence our health. As food is a basic building block of living thing but in some situations it may be cause harm to human health. Every year all over the world about 420 000 people die and about 600 million people, almost one in 10, become ill after eating contaminated. The reason of their illness by consuming food is that the food they consume may contain bacteria, dangerous micro organisms, mold and parasites along with chemical toxins. To overcome this several factors involves including

·         Hygienic practices performed by food processing workers

·         Kitchen sanitation

·         Kitchen hygiene

·         Equipment hygiene used in making food

·         Food hygiene training

So, Food safety means all the steps include handling, preparation and storage of food in order to prevent food- borne illness and injury and Food security include enough and healthy food available to overall society. So food safety and security means access of healthy and nutritious food to society for its better health and to sustain life.

Food Safety And Security In Pakistan:

Pakistan ranked under the lower middle income countries although Pakistan is food surplus country. This credit goes to farmers of Pakistan who are working hard to improve agriculture system. But Pakistan’s overall food security is poor. About 60% of the country faces the problem of food security. Due to this malnutrition and undernourishment, lower weight and stunting cases in children is highly reported in Pakistan. This situation is mainly high in ruler areas of Pakistan due to high poverty rate in ruler areas.

Policy Related To Food Safety And Security:

The food security situations in Pakistan are alarming and Pakistan’s government taking step overcome this situation. In 2018 first food security policy make, aim to decrease poverty, eliminate hunger and promote sustainable food production. These aims would be attain through mutual cooperation between federal and provincial government through implementation of food safety and security measures and the launch of a “Zero Hunger” program. The struggle behind this is very appreciative but there is a problem of mutual cooperation between two governments and lack of trust. However, both government introduce “Anti-Poverty Initiative” which aims to provide food, shelter, clothing, health and education to poor society of Pakistan. Imran khan as a part of this initiative also allocate 80 billion dollar for security of food. Also some organizations in Pakistan also aim to provide safe and secure food include NAFS (national Alliance For Safe Food) and FAO (Pakistan Agriculture Organization). Main fact is that as if food security is strong ultimately food safety goes to better condition. Although spending money on food safety and security for Pakistan is difficult because ongoing pressure on food security and safety increase day by day which indirectly put pressure to poor society members.

About the Author: Seemab Iqbal is a young student of environment at GCWUS with high ambition for environmental sustainability.