FAO and WHO Directors-General to issue messages at Geneva event on Tuesday, 7 June 2022, 14:00 (CEST)
With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies globally. Ensuring food safety is a public health priority and an essential step to achieving food security. Effective food safety and
quality control systems are key not only to safeguarding the health and well-being of people, but also to fostering economic development and to improving livelihoods by promoting access to domestic, regional and international markets.
On 7 June 2022, the fourth annual World Food Safety Day, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) will mark the occasion with a joint virtual panel discussion at 14:00 CEST.
The
event will open with video messages from FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, and WHO Director-General
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In his video message, the FAO Director-General says: “Everyone, everywhere has the right to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. Yet, from till to table, food can become unsafe at any point”. In addition he notes how “food safety is everyone’s business – from
governments and food businesses to scientific experts and consumers. Food safety awareness can prevent foodborne illness – so safer food means better health. Without food safety there can be no food security”.
The event, which can be followed
here, will include an interactive session on the need to transform food systems to deliver better health, in which WHO Assistant Director-General Naoko Yamamoto and Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations
in Geneva Dominique Burgeon delve into
this year’s theme for World Food Safety Day: “Safer food, better health”.
The second half of the event will explore, in a moderated panel with speakers from Chile, Ghana, India and Singapore, how different players ensure the sustainable production and consumption of safe
foods in different settings in order to improve health outcomes.
FAO’s work on food safety
FAO is a recognized leader in the development of global food safety initiatives and translating these into country level action. The Food Safety and Quality Programme supports an integrated and multidisciplinary
approach to food safety management and holistic and feasible “food chain” solutions to specific food safety problems as laid out in
FAO's Strategy for Improving Food Safety Globally. The foundations for this approach are based on science.
FAO's Food Safety and Quality Unit often works in partnership with national and international bodies and organizations where such partnerships are mutually beneficial and where there is a compatibility
of mandate and guiding principles.
Codex Alimentarius
The
Codex Alimentarius is collection of standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission which is the central part of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme and was established
by FAO and WHO to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food trade.