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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations media release, Tuesday 1 July 2014 [= “One Health” issue] “Top Ten” list of food-borne parasites released New guidelines being developed to control parasites in food July 2014, Rome - A Top Ten list identifying the food-borne parasites of greatest global concern has been released today, and new guidelines are being developed to control them. The parasites affect the health of millions of people every year, infecting muscle tissues and organs, causing epilepsy, anaphylactic shock, amoebic dysentery and other problems. Some can live on in our bodies for decades. Despite their huge social costs and global impacts, information is generally lacking regarding just where these parasites come from, how they live in the human body, and – most importantly – how they make us sick. As a first step in tackling the problem, the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) are initially focusing on the ten food borne parasites with the greatest global impact. The rankings contained in todays FAO-WHO report, Multicriteria-based ranking for risk management of food-borne parasites, are based on the parasites burden on human health and other factors, and includes information on where they can be found. The top ten are: 1.                              Taenia solium (pork tapeworm): In pork 2.                              Echinococcus granulosus (hydatid worm or dog tapeworm): In fresh produce 3.                              Echinococcus multilocularis (a type of tapeworm): In fresh produce 4.                              Toxoplasma gondii (protozoa): In meat from small ruminants, pork, beef, game meat (red meat and organs) 5.                              Cryptosporidium spp.(protozoa): In fresh produce, fruit juice, milk 6.                              Entamoeba histolytica (protozoa): In fresh produce 7.                              Trichinella spiralis (pork worm): In pork 8.                              Opisthorchiidae (family of flatworms): In freshwater fish 9.                              Ascaris spp. (small intestinal roundworms): In fresh produce 10.                          Trypanosoma cruzi (protozoa): In fruit juices The list and supporting report were developed following a request by the global food standards body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), for FAO and WHO to review the current status of knowledge on parasites in food and their public health and trade impacts. FAOs food safety and quality unit and WHO responded by jointly organizing a global call for information on the problem. Twenty-two nations and one regional body responded, followed by an assessment and analysis by 21 experts on the impact of food-borne parasites. From this work, an initial list of 93 parasites was developed. The list was then narrowed down to the 24 most damaging parasites based on the following criteria: 1) number of global illnesses, 2) global distribution 3) acute morbidity 4) chronic morbidity and 5) economic impact. …   Please read complete Press Release: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/237323/icode/