One Health dialogue focuses on enhancing food safety

A session on Zoom, hosted by FAO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Health Organization (WHO), addressed ‘enhancing food safety through a One Health approach’ on 6 April 2022. Markus Lipp, FAO Senior Food Safety Officer, delivered closing remarks at the 1.5 hour discussion that was part of the FAO in Geneva One Health Dialogue Series.

“Life is complicated, food safety is complicated and One Health is even more complicated,” Lipp said, noting the importance of working together to overcome resource problems, share knowledge and reap the benefits of national and international collaboration. After all, food safety is everyone’s business, he said as he invited the more than 200 participants to take part in World Food Safety Day on 7 June to help raise awareness and inspire action.

“We need healthy plants, healthy animals, healthy soil and ultimately healthy humans,” he said. “Food safety is a core tenet of One Health.”

Food safety specialists from Honduras, Mongolia and Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety shared some of their programme experiences and challenges in implementing a One Health approach. Linkages were drawn to the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Codex Trust Fund and WTO Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF).

See the meeting agenda here