Food safety is vital not only for a healthy life, but also for the economic and social well-being of societies. Every year, one in ten people worldwide become ill from contaminated food. The number of diseases that occur as a result of consuming food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or heavy metals reaches 200.

“World Food Safety Day”, celebrated every year on June 7, aims to encourage people’s access to healthy and safe food by focusing on food safety and nutrition issues globally. Near East University Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Food Engineering will organize the “Imitation and Adulteration in Food” event to raise awareness on this important day.

At the event, faculty members of Near East University Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Food Engineering, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Artı and Dr. Şebnem Güler and Adana Olive Production and Marketing Cooperative (ZEYKOOP) President Dr. Mehmet Güler will share important information about food safety. The event, which will be held in Hall No. 101 of Near East University Hospital, will be open to the public and free of charge. At the event, the meaning and importance of food imitation and adulteration, the effects of fake food products on health, the methods used to detect imitation and adulteration, the importance of quality control in the food industry, legal regulations and audit processes, tips for consumers to make safe food choices, the food industry and consumers. Issues such as ensuring trust between each other will be discussed.

Prof. Dr. Özge Özden: “While we place food safety and sustainable agricultural practices at the center of our educational activities, we also continue to contribute to social awareness with the events we organize open to the public.”

Emphasizing that food safety is a very important issue that directly affects society’s access to healthy food, Near East University Faculty of Agriculture Dean Prof. Dr. Özge Özden stated that hygiene, contamination prevention, control of harmful substances, biotechnology applications and quality control techniques are the most important topics of this field.

Emphasizing that food safety is as important for the spread of sustainable agricultural practices as for the protection of public health, Prof. Dr. Özge Özden said, “As Near East University Faculty of Agriculture, we place food safety and sustainable agricultural practices at the center of our educational activities, while continuing to contribute to social awareness with the events we organize open to the public.”