Each day millions of people become ill and thousands die from a preventable foodborne disease. Proper food preparation can prevent many foodborne diseases.
As part of its global strategy to decrease the burden of foodborne diseases, WHO identified the need to communicate a simple global health message, rooted in scientific evidence, to educate all types of food handlers, including ordinary consumers. The Five Keys to Safer Food message, and associated training materials, were developed to provide countries with materials that are easy to use, reproduce and adapt to different target audiences.
1. Keep Clean
2. Separate raw and cooked
3. Cook thoroughly
4. Keep food at safe temperatures
5. Use safe water and raw materials
2. Separate raw and cooked
3. Cook thoroughly
4. Keep food at safe temperatures
5. Use safe water and raw materials
Prevention of foodborne diseases:
Although governments throughout the world are doing their best to improve the safety of the food supply, the occurrence of foodborne disease remains a significant health issue in both developed and developing countries. In recent years, a number of extremely serious foodborne disease outbreaks have occurred on virtually every continent, demonstrating both the public health and social significance of foodborne disease.
Even though the contamination of food can occur at any stage of the food production, a high level of foodborne disease is caused by foods improperly prepared, or mishandled at home or in food service establishments.
Education of food handlers (which includes all consumers) is therefore essential in the prevention of foodborne disease. As part of its global strategy to decrease the burden of foodborne disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed materials and activities to educate food handlers about their responsibilities for food safety.
