Safer food, better health

02/06/2022

With some 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses every year, unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies around the world. Ensuring food safety is a public health priority and an essential step to achieving food security.

FAO is the only international organization overseeing all aspects of the food chain, providing a 360° vision on food safety.

Brush up your knowledge on the topic with a selection of FAO publications. For more titles, browse the Publications catalogue.

Guide to World Food Safety Day 2022
This fourth annual World Food Safety Day seeks to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agricultural production, market access, tourism and sustainable development.

Thinking about the future of food safety: A foresight report
This publication provides an overview of major global drivers and trends and their implications for food safety and agrifood systems, including climate change, changing consumer behaviour and preferences, new food sources and production systems, technological advances, microbiome, circular economy and food fraud. A device-friendly format is also available.

Microbiological risk assessment – Guidance for food
This document provides guidance on risk assessment for all microbial hazards that may adversely affect human health along the food chain, focusing on hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment and risk characterization.

Foodborne antimicrobial resistance. Compendium of Codex standards 
This publication brings together the three Codex texts, two guidelines and a code of practice, that will support governments in designing and running a successful strategy to tackle foodborne AMR. 

Food safety and COVID-19-related resources

• FAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme – Trade and food safety standards
• COVID-19 and Food Safety: Guidance for competent authorities responsible for national food safety control systems
• COVID-19: Guidance for preventing transmission of COVID-19 within food businesses
• Food safety in the time of COVID-19
• 10 things consumers should know about food safety and COVID-19

Additional reading

• CODEX 2021 – A year of virtual reality
• World Food Safety Day 2021 − Overview of festivity and creativity
• Looking at edible insects from a food safety perspective. Challenges and opportunities for the sector
• Codex Code of Practice for fish and fishery products
• Understanding international harmonization of pesticide maximum residue limits with Codex standards
• Compendium of Food Additive Specifications – Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
• Microbial safety of lipid-based ready-to-use foods for management of moderate acute malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition. Second report
• Food control system assessment tool

Forthcoming

• Technical Guidance for the Implementation of E-Notification Systems for Food Control
• FAO/WHO Report of the expert meeting on food safety for seaweed – Current status and future perspectives