“Food safety is everyone’s business”

Food supply chains involve several people: producers, processors, transporters, distributors, retailers, cooks as well as consumers.
At every point in the chain, there are hazards that can cause contamination. Everyone involved at the various stages has a responsibility to keep food safe.

There are five calls to action on World Food Safety Day:

• 1. Ensure it’s safe - Governments must ensure safe and nutritious food for all
• 2. Grow it safe - Agriculture and food producers need to adopt good practices
• 3. Keep it safe - Business operators must make sure food is safe
• 4. Know what’s safe - Consumers need to learn about safe and healthy food
• 5. Team up for food safety – Let’s work together for safe food and good health!

  “Safe food now for a healthy tomorrow”

The consumption and production of safe food have immediate and long-term benefits for people, the planet and the economy. The availability of safe and healthy food for all can be sustained into the future by embracing digital innovations, advancing scientific solutions as well as honouring traditional knowledge that has stood the test of time.

Our food systems need to produce enough safe food for all. Recognizing the systemic connections between the health of people, animals, plants, the environment and the economy will help us meet the needs of the future. Local actions based on equitable, often novel, solutions and strengthened multi-sectoral collaboration are essential to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

While COVID-19 has not been transmitted by food, the pandemic has sharpened the focus on food safety-related issues, such as hygiene, antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic diseases, climate change, food fraud and the potential benefits of digitalizing food systems. It has also identified weaknesses or vulnerabilities in food production and control systems. For the immediate future, minimizing disruptions in the food supply chains remains one of the highest priorities of all governments, as consumers must have reliable access to food.

A risk-based approach to food safety and to meeting food safety requirements can help keep global food supplies open and enable consumer access to food. Concerted efforts on food safety will help countries mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and boost their resilience for the long term by facilitating and accelerating food and agricultural trade, helping to prevent the next zoonotic pandemic and transforming food systems.