At least 600 million people, or 1 in 10 worldwide, fall ill from contaminated food each year and 420,000 die, many of them young children, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
Giving its first global estimates of preventable food borne diseases, a WHO report called on governments and industry to improve inspections and control of the food chain from the fields and farmyard to the factory and the plate.
Food borne diseases - caused by bacteria such as salmonella, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals - mostly cause temporary symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.
But they can also cause longer-term illnesses including cancer, kidney or liver failure, brain disorders, epilepsy and arthritis, the United Nations agency said.
"The data we are publishing is only a very conservative estimate, we are sure that the real figure is bigger," Dr. Kazuaki Miyagishima, director of WHO's Department of Food Safety, told a news briefing.
Apart from estimating the extent of contamination, the report also looked at the way food is traded and sold.
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