CONCEPT

In March 2004, 5000 people became ill with diarrhea and two were killed in three days in Sailkupa Village, India.

In Vietnam, H5N1 infection in poultry has now been detected in 23 of the country's 64 provinces. Since 23 December 2003, about 2.9 million poultry stock have either died or been destroyed because of the disease.

More than 700,000 people die in the Asia Pacific region and many more are debilitated every year from single cases of food and water-borne disease.

1000s of cases like these illustrate why Food Safety has become a serious concern for Consumers, Farmers, Food Processors, Food Retailers and Governments alike. They represent just the tip of a public health emergency covering the whole of the Asia Pacific region that largely eludes disease reporting systems.

The WHO estimates that almost 2 million children in developing countries die each year from diarrhea, caused mainly by microbe-contaminated food and water. In industrialized countries, as much as one-third of the population suffers from food-borne disease every year.

“Farm to Table” food safety systems in developed and developing countries face unprecedented challenges arising from demographic change, the globalization of food trade, shifts in food consumption patterns, increased urbanization and more intensified food production techniques.

This is where Food Safety Asia (FSA) fits in...