World Food Safety Day was celebrated this year under the theme of “Food safety: science in action”. This theme acknowledged the role of the FAO/WHO Food Safety Scientific Advice Programme in informing the knowledge and guidance that underpins the food safety and quality standards set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and the advice imparted to countries by the two facilitating organizations, FAO and WHO.

The theme went further, however, by underlining that for food to be safe, the standards that are based on scientific advice need to be implemented, to be put into action. It reminded us of the World Food Safety Day slogan, “food safety is everyone’s business”.

This slogan is now well established and its importance increasingly recognized, as demonstrated by yet another year of spectacular and inventive celebrations. This year, the World Food Safety Day “Get Started” Toolkit, provided information on key messages, facts and stats and communications materials. In every single region of the world, all stakeholders, from governments to food businesses to consumers did their bit to raise awareness and inspire action.

And the Toolkit appealed to an additional two groups to take action: schools and academia. Each year, we receive information on events organized by students at numerous universities, and teachers at many schools. This year, we wanted to acknowledge the role of young people in spreading the word on food safety and in developing the food safety science of the future. To reinforce this, we launched the first ever FAO/WHO World Food Safety Day poster competition, which was open to schoolchildren and students the world over.

We also updated and expanded our popular series of “Mythbuster” cards, to include messages about using lemon or vinegar to kill pathogens, how to ensure water is safe to drink, the labelling of organic food, and the safety of a plant-based diet. This year’s World Food Safety Day event was a joint FAO/WHO social media talk show in which young experts discussed how we can make sure we access accurate food safety information online.

Around the world, consumers made videos, nongovernmental organizations went out into street food markets to explain good food safety practices, food safety professionals discussed a vast array of topics, and relevant national authorities organized symposia, webinars and conferences to share experiences and debate issues at national, regional and international levels. Highlights include giant 3-dimensional models of “germs” at a hotel in Qatar, a Nigerian medical university celebrated with an awareness campaign among street food vendors, and in Nagaland, India, a school that celebrates every year told us about their ever-inventive campaign. Meanwhile, Kazakh students made another food safety pop video and Peruvian authorities organized a two-day event to discuss food safety issues.

“I never stop being amazed at how people come up with constantly new ways to convey food safety messages,” said Markus Lipp, Senior Food Safety Officer at FAO, and lead officer for this year’s World Food Safety Day celebrations. “World Food Safety Day is still inspiring and inspirational in its seventh year and, I believe, thanks to worldwide advocates, we are succeeding in raising awareness among people every year.”

Don’t forget, though, that food safety is important every day of the year! World Food Safety Day social media assets are available on the campaign Trello board for anyone who wants to keep raising awareness and inspiring action through to World Food Safety Day 2026!

Watch the World Food Safety Day 2025 social media talk show!

Read more

World Food Safety Day 2025 news
World Food Safety Day Trello board
Poster competition news
World Food Safety Day “Mythbuster” cards
The World Food Safety Day 2025 “Get Started” Toolkit

Photo © Raffles and Fairmont Hotels 
Staff at the Raffles Hotel in Doha, Qatar, pose in front of one of their 3D "germs"