Food safety: World Health Organization (WHO) update

Key points

• Key facts Food safety, nutrition and food security are inextricably linked.
• An estimated 866 million – almost 1 in 9 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 1.52 million die every year.
• US$ 310 billion is lost each year in productivity and medical expenses resulting from unsafe food worldwide.
• Children under 5 years of age experience 29% of the health burden due to unsafe food, with 143 000 deaths in 2021. Foodborne diseases impede socioeconomic development by straining health-care systems and harming national economies, tourism, and trade.
• Food safety is a shared responsibility among different national authorities and requires a multisectoral, one health approach.