FORUM: "Food Standards saves lives." World Food Safety Day 2023.
Food safety saves lives. It is not only a crucial component to food security, but it also plays a vital role in reducing foodborne disease. Every year, 600 million people fall sick as a result of around 200 different types of foodborne illness. The burden of such illness falls most heavily on the poor and on the young. In addition, foodborne illness is responsible for 420 000 preventable deaths every year.
World Food Safety Day is an important way of:
- making people aware of food safety issues
- demonstrating how to prevent illness through food safety
- discussing collaborative approaches to improved food safety across sectors
- promoting solutions and ways of being more food safe
When you eat, how do you know your food is safe? You have probably washed your
hands, cleaned your kitchenware and cooked your food to the right temperature, all good food
safety practices. You have probably read food packaging labels to see what ingredients the product
contains or how to cook it. And perhaps without realizing it, you have trusted everyone involved
in growing, processing, packaging, distributing and preparing your food in the right way so that
you can enjoy it without falling ill. Your food was safe and your trust justified because the people
involved in making your food - whether close to your home or on the other side of the world - followed
established food safety practices, which are transparently available in the form of standards. In
other words, food standards form the bedrock of trust for all of us.
Food standards are a way of ensuring safety and quality. They provide guidance on
hygienic food handling for farmers and processors. They define the maximum levels of additives,
contaminants, residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs that can safely be consumed by all.
Furthermore, standards specify how the food should be measured, packaged and transported to
keep it safe. Thanks to the application of standards on things like nutrition and allergen labelling,
consumers can know whether the food will be good for them.
Most governments and organizations adopt and enforce food standards that are
based on scientific risk assessments, covering hazards that are biological, chemical and physical in
nature. The standards can be developed by individual governments or organizations, or by regional
or intergovernmental standard-setting bodies. One such international food safety and quality
standard-setting body is the Codex Alimentarius Commission, or Codex for short. Codex is the
place where representatives of 188 Member Countries and 1 Member Organization (the European
Union) work together to make sure food is safe.
Codex operates with a mandate to protect consumer health and ensure fair
practices in the food trade. Technical committees work to develop texts for standards,
guidelines and codes of practice in a transparent and inclusive manner. Underpinned by scientific
advice from global expert groups led by FAO and WHO, the texts are developed with input from 243
observer organizations, including industry and consumer associations.
Used by governments and the food industry, Codex standards guide national
food safety legislation and ensure best practices. The World Trade Organization
also uses Codex standards as benchmarks. If your food comes from abroad, it has to meet these
standards.
Codex standards are at the heart of food safety. They have been for six decades. Each
year the ‘food code’ grows – new standards are introduced and existing standards are updated
when new data becomes available. In 2023, as Codex turns 60, we celebrate food standards for
defining the path to safe food for everyone every
KEY MESSAGES
There is no food security
without food safety - Food safety is an essential part of food security.
Only when food is safe can it meet nutritional
needs and help adults to live an active and
healthy life and children to grow and develop.
Food safety has a direct
impact on health - Safe food allows for the uptake of nutrients,
promotes long-term human development
and achievement of several of the SDGs. Food
safety is a shared responsibility, involving
the whole supply chain, from producers to
consumers. In this context, most foodborne
disease is preventable with proper food
handling and education at all levels.
Science is key to sound
food safety management - Monitoring and surveillance and other data
collection efforts followed by its assessment
together with scientific research ensures that
we have the knowledge and information to
develop the expert scientific advice needed
to maintain safe food despite changes to
the production environment, processing
technology and consumer habits.
Food safety impacts positively
on economies and livelihoods - By ensuring their commodities meet food
standards, producers and food traders gain the
confidence of their market and secure their
income. Unsafe food in trade can lead to export
bans and destroy businesses, but governments
can help protect the livelihoods of food workers
by establishing a robust food control system
and rigorous export controls.
Food standards
protect consumers - When food safety standards are applied
consumers will be protected by the efforts
that have been undertaken in making sure
that the food they consume is safer. Food
safety standards provide the common basis
for understanding and, at the same time, the
common basis for joint action to ensure that all
of us can benefit from safe food.
Food standards help producers - Implementing standards, guidelines and codes
of practice along the food supply chain ensures
that food is safe and nutritious when it reaches
the consumer, contributing to consumer
confidence in the products. Governments,
producers, processors and retailers all play a
part in ensuring food standards are met. The
international food safety standards of the
Codex Alimentarius facilitate fair practices in
international trade.
Science underpins
food standards - Food standards help to ensure food is
safe. They are established following expert
advice from food scientists, microbiologists,
veterinarians, medical doctors and
toxicologists, to name a few. They advise
policymakers what food production,
processing, handling and preparation practices
are needed to make food safe.
Everyone is a risk manager -
Everyone evaluates food safety risks as part
of their daily choices. These choices are made
by individuals and collectively by families,
communities, businesses and governments
EVENTS
Promoting food safety makes a difference. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of policymakers,
food safety authorities, farmers, food business operators, cooks, scientists, teachers, students
and consumers, awareness about food safety is increasing. The four observances of World
Food Safety Day so far have seen growth in the number, impact and level of engagement of
activities held.
Everyone can take an active role in preventing foodborne illness, and World Food Safety Day
offers an opportunity to celebrate.
If you work for a government, you might be involved in ensuring that food control
systems are fit for purpose, in developing international food safety and quality standards or
in ensuring that government policies include standards aimed at safeguarding your nation’s
food supply. You might also be involved in making sure that consumers and food industry
workers are aware of the rules and regulations in place, and of the dangers of neglecting food
safety standards. You will probably also be involved in encouraging multisectoral collaboration
within the food control system, and in promoting dialogue along the food supply chains to
ensure good practices are upheld from the field to the table. You may very well be involved in
showcasing how the government protects consumers through its policymaking and standardsetting activities and how it ensures access to safe food through support programmes such as
school meals, food aid or publicly owned food outlets.
If you work in a food business or food shop, you will definitely be responsible for
ensuring food is safe. Whether you define the food safety and quality standards of your
organization, implement the quality and safety standards required by national authorities or
communicate food safety messages to staff, food safety and consumer protection are in your
hands. Communication by food businesses is key and both staff and customers benefit from
knowing about and understanding how food stays safe, both at the production stage and once
it has been purchased.
But food safety is an important factor in any workplace. Any place of work needs to
ensure that staff can eat safe and healthy meals while at work. This means setting the policies to
ensure safety standards are being implemented and followed, ensuring access to handwashing
facilities, clean places to eat and appropriate storage facilities for food. At school or college,
young people need to be taught about food safety and hygienic practices.
We all need food that is safe. There are things you can and must do when you buy, store,
cook and eat food to make sure that food stays safe. World Food Safety Day is an opportunity
to learn and do more about food safety and share the message with others.
Get the
Communication materials, the
Guide to World Food Safety Day 2023 and
Use it to spark ideas for your participation on (or around) 7 June 2023. To let us know about your event or ask a question, email us at
World-Food-Safety-Day@fao.org and Foodsafety@who.int
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