International conference aims to improve food safety
Greater international cooperation is needed to prevent unsafe food from causing ill health and hampering progress towards sustainable development, world leaders said at the opening session of the First International Food Safety Conference, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 12.
Greater international cooperation is needed to prevent unsafe food from causing ill health and hampering progress towards sustainable development, world leaders said at the opening session of the First International Food Safety Conference, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 12. The event was organized by the African Union (AU), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Around 130 countries are participating in the two-day conference, including ministers of agriculture, health, and trade. Leading scientific experts, partner agencies and representatives of consumers, food producers, civil society organizations, and the private sector are also taking part. The aim of the conference is to identify key actions that will ensure the availability of, and access to, safe food now and in the future. This will require a strengthened commitment at the highest political level to scale up food safety in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“There is no food security without food safety,” said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva during his remarks. “This conference is a great opportunity for the international community to strengthen political commitments and engage in key actions. Safeguarding our food is a shared responsibility. We must all play our part. We must work together to scale up food safety in national and international political agendas.”
A central theme of the conference is that food safety systems need to keep pace with the way food is produced and consumed. This requires a sustained investment and coordinated, multi-sectoral approaches for regulatory legislation, suitable laboratory capacities, and adequate disease surveillance and food monitoring programs, all of which need to be supported by information technologies, shared information, training, and education.
A follow-up event—the International Forum on Food Safety and Trade—which will focus on interlinkages between food safety and trade, is scheduled to be hosted by the WTO in Geneva, April 23–24. The two meetings are expected to galvanize support and lead to actions in the key areas that are strategic for the future of food safety.
“Food safety is a central element of public health and will be crucial in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,” added WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo. “Trade is an important force to lift people out of poverty … when we reconvene in Geneva in April we will consider these issues in more depth.”