World Food Safety Day , celebrated every year on 7 June, was established by the United Nations to draw attention and raise awareness about food safety.  Every year, foodborne diseases affect 1 in 10 people worldwide. In the Western Pacific Region, more than 125 million people fall ill, and more than 50 000 die annually from unsafe food. Of those who fall ill, an estimated 40 million are children under the age of 5, and these are preventable deaths. 

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, and promoting solutions and ways of being more food safe.

The theme for this year’s World Food Safety Day is "Food Standards Save Lives" , which recognizes the importance of food standards across the world in keeping consumers safe and in underpinning equitable trade in food.

The theme coincides with this year’s 60th anniversary of Codex Alimentarius, and encourages food safety advocates around the world to focus on the importance of applying standards in every aspect of food production - from the source to the table.

Food standards are a way of ensuring safety and quality. They help to prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses and diseases caused by consuming contaminated or unhygienic food. Additionally, they assist in ensuring that food is of a high standard and in preventing the mislabeling or misrepresentation of food items.

Other related links:

Food safety WPRO (who.int)

Strengthening food safety systems (who.int)