REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION SERVICE

 4 June 2021

 Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service, chaired the hybrid briefing which was attended by spokespersons and representatives of the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Food Programme, and the International Labour Organization.

FAO/WHO Press Conference on the World Food Safety Day (7 June)

Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), stated that on 7 June, the United Nations would mark the third global World Food Safety Day 2021, led by the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), together with the Codex Alimentarius Secretariat.

Dominique Burgeon, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization Liaison Office in Geneva, stated that food safety was a big part of food security. Every year, some 600 million fell ill and 420,000 people died from eating food contaminated by viruses and bacteria. It also led to serious productivity losses.

World Food Safety Day aimed to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks. Food safety was a shared responsibility, and everyone had a role to play including governments, industry, producers, business operators and consumers, which was reflected in the slogan of the day ‘Food safety is everyone’s business’.

FAO was fully engaged with promoting food safety standards, through Codex Alimentarius, to direct support to a number of countries. In a response to a question, Mr. Burgeon said that food security depended on availability, access, utilization, and stability. Food safety was an issue of people’s education, including farmers and consumers, but also of regulatory frameworks.

More information on the World Food Safety Day is here.

See also Why improving food safety is important here.