Colombia celebrated World Food Safety Day 2023 with a webinar and a video by a famous young farmer to promote "Food safety is everyone's business". Almost one hundred people attended the event online on 7 June 2023, and the influencer reached over 637 000 followers on Instagram.

“During the webinar, we discussed myths and truth about food safety, the importance of good farming and good agriculture practices, sanitary regulations in Colombia, the five keys to safer food, and international projects in the country to tackle AMR. Also, the importance of Codex standards, especially how they can help us on the national level,” said Ana Carrizosa, Coordinator of the “Action to support implementation of Codex AMR texts (ACT)” project in Colombia.

Fifteen speakers from animal and plant health, public health sectors, and the food industry, as well as international organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), shared their knowledge and learnings on how to prevent, detect, and manage food-related risks. Carrizosa presented the ACT project, its progress, and expected results. She also highlighted ongoing activities to help guide the implementation of the National Action Plan for antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the AMR surveillance system, AMR regulations, and the use and adoption of Codex standards in Colombia.

In addition, Nubia e Hijos, a female farmer from a village near Bogota, launched an educational video to emphasize that food standards save lives. In the video, filmed on her farm in Cundinamarca, she talks to her two boys about good livestock and good practices, the importance of using veterinary and agricultural products responsibly, and explains what antimicrobial resistance means and why it is important.

Learn more
Video on Instagram “Food standards save lives”:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ctt9LGsOM8m/?img_index=1
WFSD 2023 in Colombia was also covered online here:
Día Mundial de la Inocuidad de los Alimentos 2023 (ecoavant.com)

For more information about the ACT project, please visit:
https://www.fao.org/antimicrobial-resistance/projects/ongoing/project-10/en/