Celebrating the first ever World Food Safety Day

7 June 2019

The first ever World Food Safety Day will take place on 7 June 2019 under the slogan “Food safety, everyone’s business”. The day will provide an opportunity for consumers, producers and governments to focus on raising awareness and promoting action. WHO/Europe is working alongside other regions as well as partner organizations, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Codex Alimentarius, a global organization that supports food safety with a collection of standards, guidelines and codes of practice established by WHO and the FAO to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food trade.

Safety, trust and “team back up”

Food safety is something most of us never think of unless something goes wrong, like food poisoning. Safety is assumed, based on a relationship of trust between the consumer, governments and producers. In fact, the “team” backing up food safety in countries is large and is made up of veterinarians, food safety/hygiene inspectors, laboratory technicians and farmers to name but a few. Every person who prepares food, whether for themselves or their family, is also taking responsibility for food safety.

For World Food Safety Day, WHO/Europe will be supporting activities in Member States and raising awareness of the importance of food safety using social media and the hashtags #WorldFoodSafetyDay and #FoodSafety.