The theme for this year’s World Food Safety Day (7 June 2020) is “Food Safety, Everyone’s Business.” We are reminded that we can all contribute to promoting food safety. Whether we grow, process, transport, store, distribute, sell, prepare, serve or consume food, we have a role to play in keeping it safe.
When food is not safe, there can be no food security and in a world where the food supply chain has become more complex, any adverse food safety incident has a negative impact on public health, trade and the economy. Yet food safety is regularly taken for granted. It is often invisible until you get food poisoning. Unsafe food (containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances) causes more than 200 diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to cancer.
See the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and World Health Organisation (WHO) calls to action below.
1. Ensure it’s safe: Governments must ensure safe and nutritious food for all. National governments are critical in guaranteeing that we all can eat safe and nutritious food. Policy makers can promote sustainable agriculture and food systems, fostering multi-sectoral collaboration among public health, animal health, agriculture and other sectors. Food safety authorities can manage food safety risks along the entire food chain, including during emergencies. Countries can comply with international standards established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
2. Grow it safe: Agriculture and food producers need to adopt good practices. Farming practices must ensure a sufficient supply of safe food at a global level today while at the same time mitigating climate change and minimizing future environmental impacts. As food production systems transform to adapt to changing conditions, farmers must carefully consider optimal ways to address potential risks to ensure that food is safe.
3. Keep it safe: Business operators must make sure food is safe. Preventive controls can address most food safety problems. Everyone involved in food operations – from processing to retail – must ensure compliance with programmes like HACCP, a system that identifies, evaluates and controls hazards which are significant for food safety from primary production to final consumption. Additionally, good processing, storage and preservation help retain nutritional value and food safety as well as reduce post-harvest losses.
4. Eat it safe: All consumers have a right to safe, healthy and nutritious food. Consumers have the power to drive change. They need to be empowered to make healthy food choices for themselves and support sustainable food systems for the planet. Given the complexity of food safety, consumers need access to timely, clear and reliable information about the nutritional and disease risks associated with their food choices. Unsafe food and unhealthy dietary choices swell the global burden of disease.
5. Team up for safety: Food safety is a shared responsibility. The diverse group that share responsibility for food safety – governments, regional economic bodies, UN organizations, development agencies, trade organizations, consumer and producer groups, academic and research institutions and private sector entities – must work together on issues that affect us all, globally, regionally and locally. Collaboration is needed at many levels – across sectors within a government and across borders.
Source: Joint FAO/WHO World Food Safety Day Campaign page.
See sample FAO publications on food safety below.
- Food control system assessment tool
- Codex nutrient reference values
- Safety and quality of water used in food production and processing
- Climate change: Unpacking the burden on food safety
- The future of food safety
- Compendium of Food Additive Specifications. Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), 87th Meeting June 2019. FAO JECFA Monographs 23
- Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting in collaboration with OIE on Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance: Role of the Environment, Crops and Biocides
- Technical guidance for the development of the growing area aspects of bivalve mollusc sanitation programmes
- Food Hygiene at 50 – A Codex Alimentarius journey from small beginnings to stories of success
- A drop of oil, a tonne of value – Codex Committee on Fats and Oils
- Codex Strategic Plan 2020–2025
- Technical guidance principles of risk-based meat inspection and their application
- Global INFOSAN Strategic Plan 2020-2025
