World Food Safety Day
Food standards save lives
Globally, one in ten people suffer from a foodborne illness with over 100,000 children under five dying each year. Food safety is a concern across the whole food system and from farmers to consumers, we all have a role to play in ensuring what we eat is safe.
June 7 is the fifth World Food Safety Day and also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Codex Alimentarius, the global food standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the international Codex Alimentarius Commission. Thus the theme for the 2023 celebrates food standards while emphasizing that food safety is everyone’s business.
From the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), there are five calls to action on World Food Safety Day:
Ensure it’s safe - Governments must ensure safe and nutritious food for all
Grow it safe - Agriculture and food producers need to adopt good practices
Keep it safe - Business operators must make sure food is safe
Know what’s safe - Consumers need to learn about safe and healthy food
Team up for food safety - Let’s work together for safe food and good health!
Food Standards Save Lives
Food standards may appear to be a prosaic, even dull choice of theme for a celebration of food safety. However, if it wasn’t for food regulations and expectations, we would have a lot more foodborne illness.
As a food safety consultant, I spend a lot of my time with food standards which help me guide my clients to recommend good business practices. Food safety is the foundation of every food business and once you have set up your food safety program correctly, food quality follows as does the ability to grow and shift your food business model.
Food Safety is Everyone’s Business
As a consumer, we must remember the four key practices towards food safety:
Clean (your hands, counter, utensils)
Cook (food to the correct temperature)
Chill (keep cold food cold, hot food hot, and cool hot food quickly so it stays out the danger zone)
Separate (keep raw food separate from ready-to-eat food; use different chopping boards for meat and salads)
Here is more information from the FAO and WHO:
If you want more food safety information, there are plenty of Food Crumbs newsletter articles about food safety and food regulations. Read this blog post which discusses what I mean by food safety and what it is.
Sources
WHO World Food Safety Day 2023
FAO Codex Alimentarius World Food Safety Day
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Who Writes Food Crumbs?
Cathy Davies runs a food safety consultancy, Food Safety Mid Atlantic, supporting specialty food businesses with their food safety plans and programs. If you are interested in learning more about my consulting services, please schedule a free call.
Check out our recent blog post on Food Safety Self Audits which discusses why food safety self audits are essential for a safe food business and how a specialty food business can to prepare and carry a self audit.
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