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Diseases linked to unhealthy foods are stressing health systems and harming economies, trade and tourism.
Countries must work harder to eliminate unhealthy foods that cause health problems and death, cost developing countries nearly $ 100 billion a year and hinder sustainable development, world leaders say, according to a statement from United Nations released Tuesday.
"There is no food security without food security," said Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , at the opening session of the First International Conference on Food Security in Addis Ababa.
"Safeguarding our food is a shared responsibility, we all need to play our part, we need to work together to strengthen food security in national and international policy agendas," da Silva said at the event organized by African Union, FAO, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization (WTO).
According to the UN, food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins or chemicals causes the disease and kills 420,000 people worldwide each year.
"Unhealthy foods are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, but have not received the political attention they deserve," said WHO Director-General Tedros. Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"Ensuring people's access to safe food requires sustained investment in regulations, laboratories, enhanced surveillance and control In our globalized world, food security is everyone's business", he added.
Diseases linked to unhealthy foods are stressing health systems and harming economies, trade and tourism. The impact of unhealthy food is costing low- and middle-income economies a loss of productivity of about $ 95 billion a year, according to the FAO press release.
According to the statement, one of the central themes of the Addis Ababa conference is that food safety systems must keep pace with the production and consumption of food.
Information technology, information exchange, training and education play a key role in securing food and solving current challenges posed by climate change, globalization of food production, growth of world population and urbanization, says the release.
Conference participants agreed that food security must be a primary goal at every stage of the food chain, from production to harvest, through processing, storage, distribution, preparation and consumption. the statement said.
"Without safe food, it is not possible to achieve food security," said Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the African Union Commission, at the conference.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo highlighted the key role played by trade in eradicating poverty.
"Trade is an important force in lifting people out of poverty (…) when we meet in Geneva in April, we will examine these issues in greater depth," Azevedo said.
A follow-up event, the International Forum on Food Safety and Trade, which will focus on the links between food security and trade, should be organized by the WTO in Geneva on 23 and April 24th.
About 130 countries participate in the two-day conference in Addis Ababa, including the ministers of Agriculture, Health and Trade. Leading scientific experts and representatives of partner agencies, consumer organizations, food producers, civil society and the private sector also participate.
(This story has not been changed by NDTV staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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