In officially opening the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) on 23 September 2021, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said: “Food is life, food is hope. Changing food systems is not only possible but necessary, for our planet, for people, for prosperity.” Everyone must take action to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food. “Food Systems can and must play a leading role in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda,” he said.

Although it did not prove possible for a single food safety coalition to emerge from the UNFSS dialogues held ahead of the September Summit, food safety will be positioned in a Coalition for Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems.

Vice-Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Steve Wearne, UK, who represented Codex at the Rome Pre-Summit, held from 26 to 28 July 2021, said: “The UN Food Systems Summit provides an unparalleled opportunity to change the way we think about food systems. But we must not forget that without food safety there can be no food system.”

Both Secretary-General Guterres and the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, speaking at the opening session, underlined the important role the Rome-based UN agencies, including FAO have to play in collaborating on the concrete actions needed in the fight against global hunger.

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The aims of the Summit

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