This is highlighted in a new joint study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), “Prioritizing food safety issues related to chemical water quality in agri-food systems.”
The report notes that agriculture accounts for more than 70% of global freshwater consumption. And agricultural production is, to a greater or lesser extent, a harmful technology. The document identifies heavy metals, cyanotoxins, microplastics and other new substances from the arsenal of agrochemicals used in irrigated agriculture and livestock production as the main and most dangerous pollutants that enter the human body with food.
The problem is that for many of these agrochemical products, there are no uniform global rules for managing food safety risks, especially in the case of application/intrusion of the mentioned contaminants into alternative water sources, as well as in the case of wastewater reuse.
In this regard, according to the authors of the study, the “One Health” approach – integrated water, food and health management – is needed.
