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Food wastage

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    Sadly, it is not an exaggeration to say that food waste is one of the biggest problems facing mankind today. 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. That is 1 in 9 people on the planet who are starving or malnourished. Each and every one of them could be sufficiently fed on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the USA, UK and Europe each year. Because we have a globalised food supply system, demand for food in the West can drive up the price of food grown for export in developing countries, as well as displace the growth of crops to feed native populations and drive accelerated degradation of natural habitats. And, hunger is not just a problem that’s happening ‘somewhere else’ – in the UK for example, over 1 million people accessed a food bank last year, whilst in the USA 40 million Americans live in food poverty. Food waste is really, really bad for the environment. It takes a land mass larger than China to grow the food each year that is ultimately ...
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Food Safety

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  Food safety is basic human rights Billions of people in the world are at risk of unsafe food. Many millions become sick while hundreds of thousands die every year because they consume unsafe food. Therefore, safe food saves lives. Safe food enhances individual and population health. Safe food improves economic growth of the region where food safety is practiced and enhanced. Safe food supply depends on both sound science and equitable law enforcement. With technological advances, new regulations must be enacted to protect a continuing supply of food products that are safe and wholesome for the health and wellness of people. The food producers, distributors, handlers and vendors bear primary responsibility while consumers must remain vigilant and literate. Government agencies must enforce food safety laws to safeguard public and individual health. Medical providers must remain passionate to prevent foodborne illnesses and may consider treating diseases with safe diet therapy under...
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Plastic packaging of food good or bad?

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  If you've had to fight though plastic packaging to get to your food you won't be surprised to hear it can raise your blood pressure - but it's the phthalate chemicals used in the packaging rather than the effort involved, that's to blame. These chemicals are generally used to make plastic soft, for example in credit cards or plastic shower curtains.   A study of nearly 3,000 children in the Journal of Pediatrics   found that children between the ages of six and 19 who had been exposed to phthalates (measured by levels of breakdown products of the chemicals in their urine) had higher levels of blood pressure than those who didn't. When I asked the lead researcher, Leonardo Trasande     from New York University School of Medicine, if the small, clinically insignificant rise in blood pressure was likely to mean anything, he said it could do so in later life. "We know that phthalates damage the walls of arteries by oxidative stress and they may dir...
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