Tehran – Observed annually on June 7th, the 2025 World Food Safety Day is based on the theme of “Food Safety: Science Behavior,” emphasizing that science is at the heart of food safety.
Science plays an important role in protecting public health. It helps us understand why we are making food safe and guides us on how to prevent food-borne diseases. It focuses on using scientific knowledge as keys to reducing illness, reducing costs and saving lives.
Food safety is the foundation of public health and sustainable development. Access to safe, healthy and nutritious foods is not only a fundamental right, but also a shared responsibility and collective commitment.
Food-borne diseases are a growing global challenge, threatening the health of millions of people.
They are usually infectious or toxic in nature and are invisible to the mediocre eye, often caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemicals entering the body through contaminated food or water.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 600 million people get sick every year after eating contaminated food, and more than 420,000 die each year. Sadly, children under the age of five carry 40% of the burden of foodborne diseases, officials noted.
Unhealthy food consumption creates a cycle of illness, malnutrition, and health inequality that disproportionately affect vulnerable groups such as infants, elderly people, and illnesses.
Meanwhile, the rise in global food trade, changing consumption patterns, widespread tourism, climate change, microbial resistance, and even the threat of bioterrorism, have added new complexities to food safety.
Food contamination from production to consumption can occur at any stage in the supply chain, which is influenced by factors such as water and soil pollution, air pollution, and inappropriate food preparation practices and storage.
Data, evidence, and documents are the basis for effective food safety policy decisions and actions. From developing safety standards and monitoring systems to disease outbreak analysis and evidence-based education, science is effective when it comes to action.
Food safety can only be achieved through collective responsibility. Every individual must act as risk managers at all levels, from producers to consumers, from decision makers to implementers, from families to governments. The decisions we make daily about what we eat, how to prepare it, and how to store it affect the health of ourselves, our families and our communities.
Global Food Safety Day aims to encourage and inspire action that helps prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, preventing the contribution of food safety, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.
Ensuring food safety is a common effort. By relying on science and taking action, we can create a safer food cycle, a healthier society, and a brighter future.