(ANSA) – ROME, June 06 – The war between Russia and Ukraine has blocked the world’s granary. Soaring prices and falling supply risk triggering a food crisis and increasing the number of undernourished people by 13 million. This was stated by the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (Sacru), the network made up of eight Catholic universities from four different continents, coordinated by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.
“Food safety, understood as Food Safety, is achieved when the conditions exist that preserve the wholesomeness of food and prevent contamination with biological or chemical agents that cause food-borne illnesses”, notes Pier Sandro Cocconcelli, full professor of Food microbiology of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. The changes that occur in the global geopolitical context therefore have an important impact on Food Safety, because “war, lack of resources, environmental disasters, economic collapses and humanitarian crises favor situations in which the security of food supply is compromised on several levels” , explain Alicia Orta Ramirez and Xavier Almirall of the Universitat Ramon Llull.
After the outbreak of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian exports of wheat, maize and sunflower oil plummeted, mainly affecting African countries. According to Bo Wang, a professor at the School of Behavioral & Health Sciences at Australian Catholic University, this dynamic brings with it the possibility that hungry populations “alternatively consider wild animals as their source of protein, with all the consequent risks in terms of transmission of pathogens from animals to humans “.
For Paulo Esteves, associate professor at the Institute of International Relations of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, “the first assessments of the impact of the war indicate an increase of 13 million undernourished people in the short term”. Unfortunately, this food crisis “will hit the same groups disproportionately affected by the pandemic, giving rise to a humanitarian crisis”, adds Esteves. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years now and I have worked for some of the biggest news websites in the world. My focus has always been on entertainment news, but I also cover a range of other topics. I am currently an author at Global happenings and I love writing about all things pop-culture related.
