Donations

With your financial support you will enable implementation of our projects. Learn more about how it works. Thank you very much!

Newsletter

Our newsletter keeps you informed about our projects. You can sign up here.

Search


You are here: vsf » Media library

News (en)

16.10.18

World Food Day 2018: Ruthless food production?

A baby's relation to its mother is based on unconditional trust. Health-endangering food-stuffs turn both of them into unwitting victims. | © Veterinarians without Borders

Today is World Food Day. For an incredible total of 800 million people, sufficient food and clean drinking water are still not a matter of course. At the same time, the quality of food is often poor, especially in developing countries.

In Tanzania, for example, many women are HIV-positive and have to feed their babies with milk powder. However, the quality of the milk powder is hardly controlled. Prof. Dagmar Schoder, president of Veterinarians without Borders Austria and head of the research group "Global Food Safety" at the Vetmeduni Vienna, has analyzed, in co-operation with the AGES (Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety), milk powder samples from Africa with respect to heavy metal contamination. The alarming result: 2.3 % of these samples showed a significantly increased concentration of lead. The samples originated from a branded product.

Lead primarily affects the nervous system, resulting in reduced intelligence, motoric and growth disorders. For a baby's organism, heavy metals are even more dangerous than for adults. Because babies absorb food more efficiently. The quantity of milk drunk by a baby per day equals a fifth of its body weight. Kidney and liver are not yet fully developed and thus cannot detox an infant's body to the same extent as an adult's.

zurück



Maasai-Art-Logo

NACHRICHTEN

01.02.24:

VSF International is looking for a Communication Officer

Our parent organization Vétérinaires sans Frontières International (VSF-Int) is looking for a...

17.01.24:

VSF-International is looking for experts in the field of One Health | © VSF-International

VSF International is looking for a One Health Expert and an Advocacy Officer One Health

Our parent organization Vétérinaires sans Frontières International (VSF-Int) is looking for new...

24.10.23:

f.l.t.r.: Art expert Markus Hübl, VSF-Austria president Prof. Dagmar Schoder, artist Guido Rupp. | © Veterinarians without Borders

Picture auction to benefit VSF

As part of the opening of the vernissage of the visual artist Guido Rupp, alias "GuRu", paintings...

Weitere News

VIDEOCLIPS

John Laffa sends Christmas greetings from Tanzania

Our Tanzanian employee John Laffa wishes all supporters and friends of Veterinarians without...

Steam cooking in the traditional way

Sweet potatoes are very popular in Africa. In Tanzania, many small traders sell steamed sweet...

Maasai student Lucas Moreto successfully finishes diploma course!

We congratulate our Maasai student Lucas Moreto! As reported, Lucas is studying law at the TUDARCO...

Weitere Clips
Member of the network VSF International
VSF International