Every year on 7 June, organisations, regulators, food manufacturers, retailers, and consumers around the world come together to mark World Food Safety Day. The day serves as a reminder that food safety is not just a regulatory requirement – it is a fundamental pillar of public health, consumer trust, and sustainable food systems.
Unsafe food can lead to more than 200 different diseases, ranging from diarrheal illnesses to serious long-term health conditions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 600 million people become ill each year after consuming contaminated food. In a world with increasingly complex supply chains and growing consumer expectations, maintaining food safety has never been more important.
The History of World Food Safety Day
World Food Safety Day was officially established by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 2018 through Resolution A/RES/73/250. The first official celebration took place on 7 June 2019 and has been observed annually since then.
The initiative emerged from increasing global recognition that food safety is essential for protecting public health, ensuring food security, supporting sustainable economic development, and facilitating international trade. The proposal was strongly supported by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the World Health Organization (WHO), which continue to lead and coordinate the annual observance.
The date was created to raise awareness and inspire action to prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks. Since its launch, World Food Safety Day has become an important platform for governments, industry stakeholders, academia, and consumers to promote stronger food safety practices and collaboration across the entire food chain.
World Food Safety Day 2026 Theme: From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere
With the theme for this year’s World Food Safety Day being “From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere”, this year’s campaign shifts the conversation from understanding the impact of foodborne diseases to identifying and implementing the solutions needed to prevent them.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this year’s campaign focuses on moving beyond awareness of foodborne disease and toward practical, evidence-based solutions that can reduce risks and improve food safety outcomes worldwide. The theme highlights the significant burden that unsafe food continues to place on public health, economies, and food systems, while emphasising that effective solutions already exist and can be implemented across the food chain.
The campaign encourages governments, food businesses, academia, and consumers to work together to strengthen food safety systems and ensure that safe food is accessible everywhere. From improved food safety regulations and stronger surveillance systems to better industry practices and consumer education, the focus is on translating knowledge into tangible actions that protect public health and prevent foodborne illnesses.
The 2026 theme also reinforces a core message promoted by WHO and the FAO: food safety is a shared responsibility. Achieving safer food for everyone requires collaboration across the entire food supply chain, from producers and manufacturers to retailers, regulators, and consumers. By focusing on practical solutions and collective action, World Food Safety Day 2026 aims to help create safer, more resilient, and more sustainable food systems worldwide.
How INCiTiS-FOOD Contributes to “Safe Food Everywhere”
The theme of World Food Safety Day 2026, “From burden to solutions – safe food everywhere,” highlights the need to move beyond recognising food safety challenges and focus on practical, scalable solutions that make safe and nutritious food accessible to all. This vision closely aligns with the mission of the INCiTiS-FOOD project.
Funded by the European Union and launched in 2023, INCiTiS-FOOD addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing food systems today, including food and nutritional security, environmental pressures from food production, and environmental justice across several African countries. Through the co-creation of circular agri-food technologies, sustainable practices, and innovative business models, the project is helping build food systems that are both resilient and accessible.
A key contribution of INCiTiS-FOOD to food safety lies in its promotion of circular food production technologies such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and insect farming. These approaches enable food production in controlled environments, reducing dependence on conventional agricultural practices that can introduce food safety risks.
For example, hydroponic systems allow crops to be grown without soil, using nutrient-rich water solutions that can be carefully monitored and managed. This not only improves resource efficiency but also reduces exposure to soil-borne contaminants and diseases. Similarly, aquaponics combines fish farming and plant cultivation in a closed-loop system where nutrients are naturally recycled, minimising the need for synthetic fertilizers and eliminating the use of pesticides. By reducing chemical inputs, these systems can contribute to safer food production while supporting environmental sustainability.
Across its eight Living Labs in six African countries, INCiTiS-FOOD works directly with local stakeholders to test, adapt, and scale these technologies according to regional needs. By empowering communities with sustainable production methods that use fewer resources, recycle nutrients, and reduce reliance on pesticides and other chemical inputs, the project contributes to the broader goal of making safe food available everywhere.
On this World Food Safety Day, the INCiTiS-FOOD project joins the global conversation by demonstrating that innovative, circular, and sustainable food production systems can be part of the solution. By transforming resources into nutritious food while protecting both people and the environment, INCiTiS-FOOD is helping turn the vision of safe food everywhere into a reality.
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