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.
FORUM: "Food Standards saves lives." World Food Safety Day 2023. 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. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #7june, #WorldFoodSafetyDay, #FoodStandardsSaveLives, #FoodSafety.
EVENTS: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have organized several panel discussions on “Food standards saves lives.” on June 7th from 15:00 to 16:00 to mark the World Food Safety Day 2023. Join the webinar!
WORLDWIDE CELEBRATIONS:
In France - World Food Safety Day 2023 awareness raising planned at Agro-industrial Technical Institute in France.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Hospital caterers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to convene for World Food Safety Day 2023.
Denmark - Denmark’s Food Nation to celebrate World Food Safety Day 2023 in online event.
Bangladesh - Bangladesh Food Safety Foundation to join with organizations for joint 2023 World Food Safety Day event.
PODCASTS: 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: Call for a set of specific actions to make food safer. ‘‘Food Standards saves lives.’Let us know your plans, then share photos, video links and event news; You can use the Avocacy and Communication materials or 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.
Consumers
Practice safe food handling at home and follow WHO's Five Keys to Safer Food: keep clean, separate raw and cooked, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures and use safe water and raw materials.
Keep informed and promote food safety. Learn about food safety and join the campaign.
Educational institutions and workplaces
Promote safe food handling.
Engage with families and involve families in food safety activities.
Support food safety education.
Food businessesEngage employees, suppliers and other stakeholders to grow and develop a food safety culture.
Comply with international food standards.
Policy makers
Design all public procurement of food, such as food aid, school feeding and other publicly owned food outlets, so that consumers can access safe and healthy foods.
Support policy measures and legal frameworks to strengthen the national food safety system and ensure it complies with food safety standards.
Encourage and engage in multisectoral collaboration at the local, national, regional and global levels.
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.