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INTRODUCTION
June 7th marks World Food Safety Day – a significant day initiated in 2016 during the 39th annual session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. This initiative, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), led to the adoption of a resolution in 2017, formalizing this day. Recognizing the pervasive threat of foodborne illnesses globally and the critical need to heighten awareness and promote proactive measures for food safety, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated June 7 as World Food Safety Day through resolution 73/250 on December 20, 2018.
These concerted efforts underscore the inextricable link between food security, health, and food safety. In our increasingly interconnected and globalized world, where the importation and exportation of foods through intricate supply chains are the norm, food safety incidents can cause profound health repercussions and ripple effects throughout global trade and the economy. World Food Safety Day serves as a platform to highlight the risks of foodborne illnesses, advocate for safe food handling practices, strengthen food safety oversight systems, and celebrate the benefits of consuming safe food.
FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY: THE BURDEN OF UNSAFE FOODS
Food safety refers to practices that prevent contamination during the preparation, handling, and storage of food, ensuring it is safe for consumption. It is a key attribute and a precursor to food quality, which encompasses the features of a food product that meet consumer expectations, such as texture, flavour appearance, and adherence to specifications. Both food safety and quality are crucial in any food-handling environment to ensure consumer health and value for money.
Food safety is paramount to human health and nutrition. Food is a major determinant of a population’s health, nutritional status, and productivity. Nutrition and food safety are inextricably linked. Achieving optimal health and well-being requires not only consuming enough nutritious foods but also ensuring that these foods are of high quality and safe to eat. Unfortunately, many foods are spoiled or contaminated at various stages along the value chain—from production to processing, transportation, preparation, and consumption—leading to both quantity and quality losses. Unsafe food systems have grave consequences. Contaminated or unsafe foods lead to foodborne diseases (FBD) with symptoms such as reduced appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, and in severe cases, death. These conditions reduce the bioavailability of nutrients in food, negatively affecting both dietary intake and nutrient absorption, which is closely linked to stunting and undernutrition, thereby aggravating malnutrition.
In Africa, access to, availability of, and utilization of safe and nutritious foods remain significant challenges. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the African continent faces the highest burden of foodborne diseases per capita globally4, resulting in approximately 135 million cases of foodborne diseases and 180,000 related deaths annually5. Specifically, FBDs such as Salmonella species, toxigenic Escherichia coli, norovirus, and Campylobacter species are responsible for about 80% of the FBD burden in Africa.