Report shares highlights of World Food Safety Day
More than 300 events were held in 90 countries promoting the third World Food Safety Day, according to a new report.
International organizations, governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, academics and individuals organized the mainly virtual meetings to mark the day promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The theme of the annual day on June 7 was “Safe food now for a healthy tomorrow.” The COVID-19 pandemic meant, for a second time, that many observances were online. The idea for such a day was raised at a session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 2016 and adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018.
Overall, there were 4,050 World Food Safety Day tweets, 6,403 retweets, 3,114 likes and 681 replies from 4,194 Twitter accounts in 2021. According to Facebook, 24,000 people posted about the day.
Pre-and post WFSD action
A campaign was launched in February with a live broadcast on YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn, featuring stories from around the world. A guide to World Food Safety Day was published a month later in six languages.
The International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) hosted three webinars at the end of April. These 30-minute sessions – presented in English, French and Spanish – attracted more than 100 members and recordings received more than 150 views.
The Directors-General and chief scientists of FAO and WHO celebrated the day with topics covered including the role of science and importance of technology.
Ahead of the