Food safety is essential for ensuring proper human health, economic prosperity, sustainable development, and growth in agriculture and tourism as well. It helps in keeping diseases and infectious illnesses, which are caused by unhygienic food, at bay. The day is celebrated to draw attention to such issues and mobilise people and authorities to take adequate steps to ensure food safety.
The theme for World Food Safety Day 2022 is ‘Safer food, better health’. The theme was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and underlines the fact that safer food is the key to better human health.
World Food Safety Day was marked by the United Nations General Assembly on December 20, 2018, to celebrate the benefits of safe food. The WHO and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations jointly facilitate the observance of the day.
According to the UN, around 600 million cases of food-borne illnesses are reported every year which makes unsafe food one of the most concerning threats for human health. Diseases arising from unhygienic food affect the most vulnerable people and marginalised sections of society, especially children, women, and victims of conflicts.
