Professor Of IPB Says Food Toxic Cases Are Still High, Supervision Needs To Be Tightened

JAKARTA Professor of Food Microbiology at the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), Ratih Dewanti Hariyadi reminded that food-induced diseases are a serious problem that has a big impact, both on health and the economy.

Referring to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), one in ten people in the world fall ill with food every year.

"Data from WHO shows that one in ten people in the world always experiences illness due to food. So, if the total population, which was studied at that time, was 6 billion, 600 million people were sick every year. This means that if the Indonesian population is 280 million, it means that every year there are 28 million sick with food," he said in the BGN Talks Podcast which was broadcast online, Saturday, August 9.

The impact, continued Ratih, is not only discomfort due to illness, but also the risk of disease transmission and a large cost burden. "If a person is sick, he has to pay for a hospital, buy medicine. Not to mention those who wait can't work. From the producer side, the product may have to be withdrawn (recall) and destroyed, which costs a lot," he said.

Ratih emphasized that the food security burden is not only detrimental in terms of health, but also economically. Around the world, he said, calculations were carried out to find out the amount of economic losses due to food safety problems.

"If we lose up to a trillion, we have to think about what programs can prevent such losses," he said.

In Indonesia, Ratih continued, there are still many cases of food poisoning. He gave an example, if in the Free Nutrition Food (MBG) program there are 50 people who are poisoned, the cost of treatment, treatment, and loss of productivity will appear.

"In Indonesia, there are still many cases of food poisoning. So imagine, if for example MBG has 50 people poisoned, it means that there are those who need treatment, there are those who need treatment, for example, there are costs," he said.

He explained that fast food is one of the main contributors to cases of poisoning, both in Indonesia and in other countries. This is because the distribution chain is long and requires strict control.

For this reason, Ratih encourages all parties to comply with the main principles of food security control. The fast food is not only in Indonesia, in other countries it is the main contributor to poisoning. Everywhere because there may have been a long chain to control.

"The ready-to-eat food is not only in Indonesia, in other countries it is the main contributor to poisoning. Everywhere because there may have been a long chain that must be controlled," he said.

"In my opinion, everything, should just fulfill it, just comply with what is the main standard of controlling food security. Previously, it was stated that distribution means that distribution time must be maintained, there is no pollution. And it can be achieved with several foundations of the food security system," Ratih continued.

According to him, good practices are important guidelines at each production stage, ranging from good agriculture practices for the agricultural sector, good farming practices for milk and meat, good culture practices for fisheries, good distribution practices for distribution, to good handling and good manufacturing practices in kitchens or factories.