Today is World Food Safety Day. It is an opportunity to strengthen efforts to ensure that food people eat is safe, mainstream food safety in the public agenda and reduce the burden of foodborne diseases globally.
With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food has become a threat to human health and economies, disproportionally affecting vulnerable and marginalized people, especially women and children, populations affected by conflict, and migrants.
An estimated 420,000 people around the world die every year after eating contaminated food and children under five years carry 40% of the foodborne disease burden, with 125,000 deaths every year.
Food safety has a critical role in assuring that food stays safe at every stage of the food chain from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, all the way to preparation and consumption.
World Food Safety Day aims to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks.
