World Food Safety Day 2022: Safe food, better health

Every year, 600 million people get sick from 200 different types of foodborne illnesses. The burden of disease falls mainly on the poor and the young. Additionally, foodborne illnesses cause 420,000 preventable deaths per year.

And it is that food safety saves lives. Not only is it a crucial element for food safety, but it also plays a critical role in reducing foodborne illness. With this idea, every June 7, the FAO —Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations— celebrates World Food Safety Day, World Food Safety Day or World Food Safety Day as an important way of raise public awareness of these issues, show how to prevent disease, discuss collaborative approaches across sectors, and promote solutions and ways to improve food safety.

Food safety: safe food, better health

The next World Food Safety Day 2022 is celebrated under the slogan Safe food, better health, a concept that highlights that having safe food is essential for people’s health and well-being.

According to the FAO, only when food is safe can we take full advantage of its nutritional value and the mental and social benefits of sharing a safe meal. Safe food is one of the fundamental elements that guarantee proper health. On the contrary, unsafe foods are the cause of numerous diseases and contribute to other conditions that undermine our health, for example, growth and development problems, micronutrient deficiencies, communicable and non-communicable diseases, as well as mental illnesses.

Globally, one in 10 people is affected by foodborne illness annually. The good news is that most of these diseases can be prevented. And our behavior, the way we create food systems, and how we organize food supply chains can prevent infectious and toxic hazards, microbial pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and parasites), chemical residues, biotoxins, and other harmful or dangerous substances from ending up in our plates.