World Food Safety Day: Here’s The Date, Theme, History And Significance

Source: NDTV / image: - / Author: Ndtv News Desk

This year, theme of World Food Safety Day is "Safer Food, Better Health"

Every year, June 7 is observed as World Food Safety Day around the world. The intent behind the day is to promote awareness and encourage adequate steps to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks.

The day was set aside by the United Nations in 2018 to raise awareness of food safety. Every year, the organisation comes up with a theme that focuses on the current and potential challenges around food safety.

As per the official website of the World Health Organization (WHO), through World Food Safety Day the United Nations agency “pursues its efforts to mainstream food safety in the public agenda and reduce the burden of foodborne diseases globally.”

Theme

This year, the theme of World Food Safety Day is, “Safer Food, Better Health”. There is no doubt that “safe food is essential to human health and well-being,” WHO says in a report ahead of the important day.

Explaining that safe food is one of the “most critical guarantors for good health,” the organisation added that this year the focus is on increasing the conversations and initiatives around transforming food systems to deliver better health, with a strong focus on sustainability.

As per WHO, governments of countries across the world, food businesses, educational institutions and workplaces, and consumers, all play an important role in “keeping food safe.” The idea is that everyone is a “risk manager” and food that is not safe is not food at all.

History and significance

According to a 2019 report by WHO, the world records over 600 million cases of foodborne diseases annually. This means that almost 1 out of 10 people in the world suffer adverse health effects after eating contaminated food. The report also cited that children under five years of age carry 40 percent of the foodborne disease burden with 1,25,000 deaths every year.

It was in this context that the first-ever World Food Safety Day was celebrated on June 7, 2019, just a few months after it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018.

In fact, World Food Safety Day was jointly kickstarted by the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations with support from member states and other stakeholders.

On World Food Safety Day, the WHO also hosts several online discussions and talks that are available for viewing on its official website.