Manipal Hospital Dhakuria Emphasises Food Safety Procedures to Preserve Public Health

News Desk, News Nation 360: In honour of World Food Safety Day, Manipal Hospital in Dhakuria held an engaging public health awareness event with the global theme "From Burden to Solutions: Safe Food Everywhere." The event's objectives were to reduce the serious consequences of foodborne illnesses by emphasising appropriate food handling, hygienic practices, and focused dietary interventions. The educational forum, which included interactive memory games and official prize distributions to maximise community engagement, attracted active participation from Bhawanipore Global Campus students and local senior citizens. It was based on data from the World Health Organisation that shows contaminated foods cause over 200 distinct gastrointestinal or systemic conditions and result in 1.52 million annual deaths worldwide. Dr Goutam Das, a consultant gastroenterologist, and Dr Debottam Bandhopadhyay, a consultant medical gastroenterologist, were on the hospital's expert medical and nutritional panel. They both stressed that unsafe or improperly stored meals cause serious conditions like severe dehydration, liver problems, and potentially fatal infections, and they urged families to thoroughly wash fresh produce, limit their intake of junk food, and stay away from unsanitary water sources. Chief Dietician Vijaya Agrawal and Clinical Dietician Sunanda Ghosh provided support for this holistic clinical viewpoint by outlining the importance of maintaining strict kitchen sanitation, checking the expiration dates on packaged foods, and giving priority to freshly prepared, nutrient-dense proteins and vegetables to protect vulnerable populations, such as children under five, pregnant women, and the elderly, thereby creating healthier families and lessening the socioeconomic burden of foodborne illness on the domestic healthcare system.

Pic - Courtesy