Food Safety Is Often Ignored, Even Though Food Safety Is Very Important To Prevent Stunting

FK Ubaya Surabaya students during a stunting campaign for early childhood through food art at the local campus, Wednesday (24/1/2024). (Between/HO-Humas Ubaya)

JAKARTA Giving food with balanced nutrition is one way to prevent stunting. However, people often forget that there are other things that are no less important, namely maintaining food safety.

Food safety is one of the things that people often ignore, even though it has an important role in children's growth and development. Therefore, food safety is said to have implications not only for now but also for long-term roles.

In a webinar organized by the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), Thursday (25/1/2024), dr. Yoga Devaera, Sp. A(K) reminded the importance of food security with child growth.

"There is one thing that should not be forgotten that a child can experience a slowdown in growth, one of the factors is the risk related to food safety," Yoga said in an online discussion entitled Found Safety: Safe Food for Better Tomorrow.

Simply put, safe food is food that is free from microbes, chemicals, and harmful ingredients so that when consumed by humans it will not cause health problems.

Talking about food, there are two important things that must be considered. The first is about the nutritional and nutritional content, so that it is in accordance with the needs of the human body according to the life cycle. Second, in addition to nutritional content, food safety also has an important role because it has a direct impact on human health at all ages.

Quoting the Health and Livestock Office of West Java Province, food safety is the necessary conditions and efforts to prevent food from possibly three contamination, namely biological contamination, chemicals, and other objects that can interfere with, harm, and endanger human health and do not conflict with people's religion, beliefs, and culture so that it is safe for consumption.

Although it has an important role, the fact is that food safety is often ignored, even starting from the household level. This happens because of a number of factors, including beliefs about myths about food safety, which have occurred for generations.

"For example, people feel it's safe to eat food just by relying on the appearance or smell. Even though microorganisms that can make you sick don't always change the appearance or smell of food," Yoga explained.

In addition, it is a myth that food is still safe to eat after falling less than five seconds is also denied by Yoga. According to him, microorganisms can be transferred to food quickly.

On the same occasion, Yoga also reminded the importance of maintaining food safety, especially for children, because it has an important role in preventing stunting. He explained that children's food that is not maintained can be one of the triggers for growth delays or what is known as stunting.

"One of the non-nutrition factors that contribute greatly to stunting is the problem of cleanliness," said Yoga explaining.

Why can food safety be a risk factor for stunting? Stunting or failure to grow can be closely related to food safety. This is because polluted food, which is unsafe, can cause children to get sick, and one of the common diseases suffered by children is diarrhea.

"Maintaining food safety has a contribution to stunting prevention. In disadvantaged areas, which are not clean, the risk of children experiencing high stunting. Because when food safety does not occur, one of them can cause diarrhea," said Yoga again.

Yoga explained, diarrhea is an unpleasant cycle for children's growth because it makes children's appetite decrease.

"Diarrhea can also inhibit absorption or absorption of food, which in the end makes children malnourished and can continue if not intervened," said Yoga.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), children under the age of five worldwide are at higher risk of malnutrition and death due to unsafe foods. The WHO says as many as 147 million children have a short height, not according to their age and 45 million others are of low weight, not according to their height. In addition, unsafe foods also cause one in 10 deaths from diarrhea, the main cause of death for this age group.

Diseases due to food safety that are not maintained can attack all age groups. However, at certain ages, such as toddlers and the elderly, have a higher risk of illness.

"From WHO data, diseases caused by polluted food can hit one in 10 people. At least in one year, two people must have been infected with food contamination and 40 percent of food poisoning cases occurred in toddlers," he concluded.

For this reason, Yoga revealed five main keys to food safety, namely maintaining cleanliness, separating raw food from cooked food, proper cooking food, maintaining food at safe temperatures, and using water and safe raw materials.