The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) participated in the celebration of World Food Safety Day through a series of events and activities under the theme “Safe food now for a healthy tomorrow.”

In a video address, Dr Hisham Al-Jadhey, CEO of the SFDA, stated that “Foodborne diseases annually cause 420,000 deaths worldwide”. He emphasized “today the whole world celebrates the World Food Safety Day, because ensuring food safety along the food chain affects food safety, human health, increases economic prosperity, agriculture, and also contributing to sustainable development to meet future needs.”

                                                                                  Watch the message from Dr Hisham Al-Jadhey, CEO of SFDA

Saudi Arabia, represented by the SFDA, celebrated World Food Safety Day through a series of events and activities, which included a number of online events. These involved a lecture entitled “‘Food safety, everyone’s business” to highlight the role of the authority in ensuring food safety and to raise awareness about the need for “safe food now for a healthy tomorrow.” A second lecture was entitled “How to protect your food", and it highlighted the role of the authority in the field of feed safety and the scientific assessment and monitoring of contaminants in feed. In another event there was a discussion about how to improve the safety of feed products, which, in turn, also improves human health.

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority published awareness infographics through its social media account, in addition to initiatives that highlighted bad practices in the home or in the manufacturing process that may affect the safety of food. The authority also conducted an internal awareness raising exercise with SFDA staff.

Further, Saudi Arabia participated in a meeting of the Codex Coordinating Committee for the Near East, that was convened to celebrate World Food Safety Day and where Saudi Arabia and the member states of the region reviewed what they had organized for the celebration day, and what they had achieved.