Foods from not natural sources are not always healthy even though we will often perceive them to be so. Indeed, our perception of a healthy food from a natural source will consciously ignore contamination by obnoxious and even dangerous substances.
A proper definition of contaminants is needed initially. These are undesirable substances that unintentionally find their way into food products. They can be synthetic or naturally derived. The naturally derived contaminants not only appear in the environment but in the processing of raw materials into food products. They can also be released into the environment through human activity and so enter the food chain. Contaminants are undesirable as they can impair health for humans and other animals under many different circumstances.
One recent survey highlights the lack of understanding we have about food contamination and reveals a critical aspect of our views on food protection and safety. This survey looked at German’s understanding on food contamination which is generally sophisticated and well educated. For the survey, 1,001 respondents answered a series of questions relating to toxins and contaminants in food. The survey was conducted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) on the perception of risk of contaminants in food. It was published in their public health journal Bundesgesundheitsblatt -Gesundheitsforschung -Gesundheitsschutz.
The survey showed that just below 60 per cent of the population knew that unpleasant and undesirable components in food posed a high health risk. Dioxins in eggs and milk and mercury in fish are recognised by environmentalists and food safety experts as harmful. This was also well understood to be so by the general German population. With mercury, 78 percent knew about mercury and 70 percent understood about dioxin.
However, and it seems obvious, less well known natural contaminants also exist but are simply not realised as dangerous. Take pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in honey or tea or arsenic in rice.
Only 13 per cent of those surveyed had ever heard of PAs and 57 percent of these who had actually heard about them knew they were also a hazard to health.
Men and women perceive the risk of contaminant differently – an interesting difference between the sexes. Men appear to be less interested than women generally about contamination of food. Men for example see the risk of contaminants being generated by barbecuing meat much lower than women. That doesn’t necessarily mean men are wrong, it means they perceive risks differently.
Younger people think they are less informed about undesirable substances in food than older people. Of the respondents based in different age brackets, 41% of 14 to 29 year-olds say they are poorly or very poorly informed about contaminants in food compared to 15% of those above the age of 60.
Clearly, communicating health risks is perhaps the main challenge. The need to raise awareness, to promote better habits associated with food handling and safety is the key here. It doesn’t just apply to Germans but to global populations as a whole who are different levels of development in economies and wealth.
The BfR President, Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel, is quoted as saying:-
“People feel most at risk from synthetic substances and heavy metals…
“Appropriate risk communication on contaminants should take this subjective risk perception into account.”
The full BfR article can be read in the journal Bundesgesundheitsblatt – Gesundheitsforschung – Gesundheitsschutz (doi:10.1007/s00103-017-2557-2 – in German with English abstract).
This article is republished from official materials provided by the BfR Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. Material is edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source above.
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