PURPOSE: The World Food Safety Day celebrated on 7 June aims to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development. Around the world, an estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people – fall ill after eating contaminated food each year, resulting in 420 000 deaths and the loss of 33 million healthy life years (DALYs); Access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health. Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances can cause more than 200 different diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. Food safety saves lives. It is not only a crucial component to food security, but it also plays a vital role in reducing foodborne disease. Every year, 600 million people fall sick as a result of around 200 different types of foodborne illness. The burden of such illness falls most heavily on the poor and on the young. In addition, foodborne illness is responsible for 420 000 preventable deaths every year. World Food Safety Day is an important way to make people aware of food safety issues,to demonstrate how to prevent illness through food safety, to discuss collaborative approaches to improved food safety across sectors, to promote solutions and ways of being more food safe.
FORUM: "Food safety: prepare for the unexpected." World Food Safety Day 2024. Let’s will draw attention to food safety incidents. This year’s theme underlines the importance of being prepared for food safety incidents, no matter how mild or severe they can be. Food safety incidents are situations where there is a potential or confirmed health risk associated with food consumption. A food incident can happen, for example, due to accidents, inadequate controls, food fraud or natural events. While being ready to manage food safety incidents requires dedicated efforts from policymakers, food safety authorities, farmers and food business operators, consumers also can play an active role. So what can be done in order to be ready to adress food safety?Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #7june, #WorldFoodSafetyDay, #FoodSafety.
EVENTS: On June 7th from 15:00 to 16:00 to mark the World Food Safety Day 2024. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will organized several panel discussions related to this year theme. Tune up to watch the webinars!
The Codex standards ensure that food is safe and can be traded. The 188 Codex members have negotiated science based recommendations in all areas related to food safety and quality. Codex food safety texts are a reference in WTO trade disputes. Here is the calendar of conferences and Upcoming Meetings:
- In Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China; from 03/06/2024 to 08/06/2024 will be held the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR55)
- In Rome, Italy from 01/07/2024 to 05/07/2024 will be held the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CCEXEC86) - In LAC, from i22/07/202426/07/2024 will be held the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean(CCLAC23) - Virtual. - In Cairns, Australia, from 16/09/2024 to 20/09/2024 will be held the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS27)
- In Dresden Germany, from 02/10/2024 to 06/10/2024 will be held the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU44) - From 07/10/2024 to 17/10/2024, wil be held the Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products (CCFFP36)
- From 21/10/2024 to 25/10/2024, will be held the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF27)
- In Quebec City, Canada, from 27/10/2024 to 01/11/2024 will be held the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL48)
STATEMENTS: Watch the Message from the FAO Director-General on the occasion of World Food Safety Day 2024; June 7th.
PODCASTS: The WHO Nutrition and Food Safety (NFS) announces of the 2024 Food World Safety Day theme. We all have a role to play; whether we grow, process, transport, store, sell, buy, prepare or serve food, food safety is in all our hands. And if we work together, we can all help achieve safer food for better health. Listen to the audio-podcasts!
CAMPAIGN MATERIALS: The "Food safety: prepare for the unexpected." campaign calls for a set of specific actions to make food safer. This communication toolkit and the Avocacy and Communication materials present information about the sixth World Food Safety. Let us know your plans by sharing photos, video links or event news; Get the campaign materials!
WHY WE CELEBRATE THE DAY?
HOW TO GET INVOLVED!
PARTNERSHIPS
The World Food Safety Day is hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO);the Codex Alimentarius;The World Food Programme (WFP); The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD); The UN Environment Programme; The World Bank;The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the UNECE and the World Food Summit. With the collaboration the International Food Waste Coalition (IFWC), the Think Tank for Food (FoodTank), the Food Recovery Network, the Rethink food waste through Economics and Data (ReFED), the BBC GOOD FOOD, the Forgotten Harvest, the CityHarvest, the Second Harvest, the Felix Project and the Stop Wasting Food movement. With the Participation of Agri-food communities; Owners of supermarkets and food store, the Civil Society Organizations, the Non-Governmental Organizations, the Researchers and Academia.
Governments can:
Commit to developing or updating national food safety emergency response plans
Strengthen national food control systems
Increase surveillance and coordination capacities
Improve communication with food businesses and the general public
Food businesses can:
Improve food safety management plans
Share “lessons learned” and work collaboratively with each other
Improve the way they communicate with consumers
Consumers can:
Ensure they know how to report or respond to a food safety incident
Ensure they understand the implications of the unexpected at home, and how to react
Researchers and Academia can:
Organize your campaign; Explore The Action toolkit.
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The United Nations General Assembly established World Food Safety Day in 2018 to raise awareness of this important issue. WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) jointly facilitate the observance of World Food Safety Day, in collaboration with Member States and other stakeholders.
Food safety, nutrition and food security are closely linked. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, elderly and the sick. In addition to contributing to food and nutrition security, a safe food supply also supports national economies, trade and tourism, stimulating sustainable development. The globalization of food trade, a growing world population, climate change and rapidly changing food systems have an impact on the safety of food. WHO aims to enhance at a global and country-level the capacity to prevent, detect and respond to public health threats associated with unsafe food.