The Central Agency for Standardization and Quality Control in Iraq celebrated World Food Safety Day by publishing an article on social media under the slogan “Food Standards, Save Lives”. The published article included the following:

Protecting public health is the goal of every individual, and the wealth of nations is valued by the health of its people. Therefore, food is considered an essential and sensitive commodity like no other. It can be contaminated by microbes, heavy metals, or toxins through production methods, soil, or lack of hygiene. In addition, food may be tampered with deliberately through food fraud for economic reasons or with intent to cause harm.

Moreover, excessive food intake may be as dangerous as not eating enough food. A poor diet that lacks vitamins and minerals leads to health problems. Information about which nutrients are beneficial or harmful to us can be conflicting and change over time. Therefore, we must identify what are the food components that classify a diet as a healthy diet, and we must realize the importance of knowing that.

Furthermore, the growth in global food trade has led to:

• Creating opportunities for countries to increase their economic productivity;
• However, it increased the possibility of the transmission of diseases to countries where it was not common.

Therefore, there was a need to set standards in order to protect consumer health, in addition to providing a platform for exchanging information among Member States to enable them to stay informed of the technological developments. Given that, food safety is a matter of concern to all and that safe food is essential to human health and well-being.

The World Food Safety Day slogan for this year is "Food Standards Save Lives". Food standards are a means of ensuring safety and quality. It provides guidance on clean food handling for farmers and processors and sets maximum permissible levels for additives, contaminants, pesticide residues and veterinary drugs for safety of the consumer. Not to mention that the standards specify how food should be weighed, packaged and transported to maintain its integrity. By applying standards to things like nutritional labelling and allergen information, consumers can be aware if a food is appropriate for them.

Most bodies and organizations adopt and apply food standards based on scientific risk assessment processes that include biological, chemical and physical hazards, which can be set individually or by regional or intergovernmental standards-setting bodies. The Codex Alimentarius Commission is one of those international bodies concerned with food safety and standards setting, as the commission includes representatives of 188 Member Countries and one Member Organization (the European Union) to ensure food safety. Iraq has been one of the Member Countries since 1969 and it relies mainly, when preparing food standards, on the standards of the Codex Alimentarius Commission as a reference and basis for its work.