Foodborne crisis and preventive approach in public health perspective

Abstract

The three main causes of food related problems in the world are the poor eating habits of individuals and societies, lack of food security and food safety. These failures can also lead to food crises, which is defined as "a coincidental or deliberate situation that requires urgent action and poses a serious and uncontrolled food-related risk to public health". In this article, food problems in the world and food-related diseases that may cause food crises, food crises examples in the world and in our country, conditions and determinants of foodborne diseases and legal regulations related to the subject are given. The article also presents a public health perspective using evidence-based information on what can be done to prevent the emergence of diseases. Foodborne diseases that can lead to crises are now global problems that can quickly transcend international borders, regardless of how much countries are "developed". Nonetheless, it may not be possible to predict the global burden of food-borne crises/diseases. For these reasons, it is also stated that the "reported" size of the foodborne diseases is only the visible part of the iceberg. Undetected cases deepen the problems. For the local and/or global solutions of food crisis and related problems, systematic and short/medium/long run interventions are needed to prevent the occurrence of foodborne diseases and to prevent foodborne diseases before becoming a crisis.