Addressing Food and Water Contamination: Global Public Health

This essay addresses the global issue of food and water contamination, a significant threat to public health. It defines contamination as the presence of harmful bacteria, viruses, and microorganisms in food and water, leading to various diseases. The essay highlights the World Health Organization's data, emphasizing the millions affected and the annual deaths caused by contaminated food and water. It emphasizes the importance of ensuring food and water security to achieve the common good and reduce disease. The essay proposes strategic ways to address the challenges, including effective food handling standards, government regulations, and the five key steps recommended by the WHO for preventing contamination. From a global perspective, the essay stresses the need for a multidisciplinary approach, cost-effective monitoring, and coordinated surveillance involving various stakeholders. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for rapid improvement in food safety and quality through sensitive and cost-effective monitoring and surveillance at both international and national levels. References from WHO, CDC and other sources are included.

Running head: HEALTHCARE
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Proposed ways of addressing challenges related to Contamination of food and water: The
Global Issue of Public Health
Introduction
Common good has always been the topic of concern at the filed of philosophy, targeting
the benefit of the entire society through the achievement of a common goal. Within the context
of the challenges related to the food borne diseases and the annual death happened due to the
intake of consumption related to contaminated water and food, the collective action for
achievement of public welfare from the risk associated from harmful viruses and pesticides in
water and food is the common good (Tirole, 2018).
There has been a growing demand regarding water and food safety information within the
international and the national level. The contamination of water and food refers to the inclusion
of harmful bacteria and other microorganisms as per World health organization (Bai &
Ogbourne, 2016). Consumption of contaminated water and food result in several diseases and
does has been highlighted as one of the major issues targeting as well as threatening global
public health (Eleftheriadou, Pyrgiotakis & Demokritou, 2017). The thesis statement of this
argues regarding the proposed ways for addressing the global epidemic of food and water
contamination which has been recognized as one of the major global challenge terrifying public
health.
According to the data gathered by World health organization, more than 1.9 million of
population expires annually for the diseases that are attributed towards the consumption of
contaminated water and food (Chammem et al., 2018). Irrespective of the right towards adequate
food and safe water, as proposed by the ‘Universal Declaration Of Human Rights’, the right to
water within the context of the right to food has been a complicated question. Though there is

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enough of the water resources available for the global future requirements, the world pictures
larger areas of the scarcity of water that affect several people specifically who are specificaaly
disadvantaged in the developing countries (environment, 2019). It is the essential to ensure food
and water security as per the millennium development goals which aims towards the
achievement of the common good of global well being as well as the reduction of contaminated
disease due to water and food.
According to the world food summit in the year 1996, food security can be defined when
all people have social, physical as well as economic access towards safe, sufficient as well as
nutritious food for meeting their dietary requirements for a healthy and productive living (Keep
Food and Water Safe After a Disaster | Natural Disasters and Severe Weather | CDC. 2020).
However, the recent statistics showcases millions of people suffering from infections in
their gastrointestinal tract due to the reason of the intake of contaminated food and water with
harmful viruses, chemicals as well as parasites. It is important from both the national and
international approach to recommend and target some of the strategic ways for addressing the
major challenges of food borne diseases which are caused due to contamination of food and
water.
Recommendations
Preventing food contamination- this public health issue is preventable only in case of the
maintenance of effective standards of food handling the food safety act of the year 2018 targets
to protect the health of consumer by strengthening the regulations of food safety system by
preventing as well as monitoring any and sanitary, misbranded and unwholesome food from
reaching to the public (Food safety, 2019). According to the World health organization, which is
important for the government of any country to highlight five key steps to prevent food and

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water contamination towards each and every individual in the country (Sankhla et al., 2018).
These includes sanitation of hand for keeping hands clean before preparing any food, separation
of raw and cooked foods, thorough cooking process, preserving on keeping food at safe
temperature and finally using safe and filtered waters during preparation as well as for drinking.
Global perspective
From the global perspective it is important to ensure food and water safety the
development of a multidisciplinary approach. Cost effective monitoring regarding food and
water contamination as well as the surveillance of water and food borne disease requires a much
coordinated approach together with the involvement of several stakeholders belonging from
countries towards the achievement of a common goal , the public health (Tirole, 2018). The
international organizations require relevant data of surveillance from all the stages within the
production of food and the water filtration as well as from the surveillance of the contaminated
disease within human beings for thorough analysis and evaluation of the trends as well as a
source of the food borne diseases.
According to Rozin et al., (2015) pathogenic microorganisms tense to enter the food
chain from livestock feed, slaughter house, manufacturing units as well as during the retailing of
food through the home preparation or catering. For effective management of the problem related
to food borne disease, it is important to ensure measurement at all the levels of production via
coordinated surveillance from all the major stakeholders within food and safety organizations.

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Source - Food safety. (2019)
The figure above highlights a schematic representation of the collection, analysis as well
as interpretation of the data related to surveillance and the subsequent dissemination of the data
was all the major stakeholders within the industry targeting food and water safety.
Towards specific prevention of waterborne illness, it is important to use good
environmental management as a national approach. One of the recommended steps is a chlorine
based infectant (FOOD CONTAMINATION MONITORING AND FOOD-BORNE DISEASE
SURVEILLANCE AT NATIONAL LEVEL. 2020). Publicizing the importance of the practice
of good personal hygiene as well as taking food safety precautions are some of the measures that
needs to be taken at the national level.
Conclusion
The detection of the changing patterns of foodborne diseases as well as a variations at the
contamination in the water filtration and procedure of food production is an absolute requirement
regarding rapid improvement towards safety as well as quality of food. Both the international

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and national approaches requires to be sensitive as well as cost effective food and water
contamination monitoring as well as surveillance of foodborne diseases at the international and
national level will provide a comprehensive and timely overview regarding the health status of
public throughout the globe.

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References
Bai, S. H., & Ogbourne, S. M. (2016). Glyphosate: environmental contamination, toxicity and
potential risks to human health via food contamination. Environmental Science and
Pollution Research, 23(19), 18988-19001.
Chammem, N., Issaoui, M., De Almeida, A. I. D., & Delgado, A. M. (2018). Food crises and
food safety incidents in European Union, United States, and Maghreb Area: current risk
communication strategies and new approaches. Journal of AOAC International, 101(4),
923-938.
Eleftheriadou, M., Pyrgiotakis, G., & Demokritou, P. (2017). Nanotechnology to the rescue:
using nano-enabled approaches in microbiological food safety and quality. Current
opinion in biotechnology, 44, 87-93.
environment, N. i. f. p. h. a., (2019). Generic Guidance to quantitative microbial risk assessment
for food and water. [Online]
Available at: https://rivm.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10029/623001/2017-
0188.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
[Accessed 23 January 2020].
FOOD CONTAMINATION MONITORING AND FOOD-BORNE DISEASE
SURVEILLANCE AT NATIONAL LEVEL. (2020). Retrieved 23 January 2020, from
http://www.fao.org/3/y5871e/y5871e0n.htm
Food safety. (2019). Retrieved 23 January 2020, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-
sheets/detail/food-safety

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Keep Food and Water Safe After a Disaster | Natural Disasters and Severe Weather | CDC.
(2020). Retrieved 23 January 2020, from
https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/foodwater/facts.html
Rozin, P., Haddad, B., Nemeroff, C., & Slovic, P. (2015). Psychological aspects of the rejection
of recycled water: Contamination, purification and disgust.
Sankhla, M. S., Kumari, M., Sharma, K., Kushwah, R. S., & Kumar, R. (2018). Water
Contamination through Pesticide & Their Toxic Effect on Human Health. Int J Res
Applied Sci and Eng Tech, 6, 967-970
Tirole, J. (2018). Economics for the common good. PANOECONOMICUS, 65(2), 255-266.