The lack of adoption of food safety measures is denting our food exports and it is also responsible for the outbreak of diseases.

It was stated by Faculty of Food Nutrition and Home Sciences University of Agriculture Faisalabad Dean Dr Masood Sadiq Butt at the inaugural session of training on food safety. It was arranged by the National Institute of Food Science and Technology, UAF in collaboration with the Pakistan Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition. Dr Masood Sadiq Butt said that food safety was a process of producing, handling, storing and preparing food in such a way to thwart infection and contamination in the production chain, and to help ensure food quality for a healthy society. He said that food-borne diseases were one of preventable public health issues affecting a large proportion of population around the world. He was of the view that tremendous initiatives are being taken on the governmental level including establishment of Food Authority and others to address the issues. He said that lack of availability of potable water and pure foods were areas of concern that were aggravating the issues. He said that plenty of food/high caloric intake, dependence on impure environmental pollution, and unsafe foods were posing the serious disease threat for the people. Dr Nuzhat Huma said that the county had a lot of potential to earn foreign exchanges by exporting its food. She said that at the time of China Pakistan Economic Corridor, we have to put a special focus on meeting our export standards to grab the international market. She said that the people right from selling food products on carts to a high quality food processing units must ensure the safety measures for a healthy society. Pakistan Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition Director Muhammad Tanvir, UAF Assistant Prof Dr Ali Hassan and other notable also spoke on the occasion.