Food Safety is Fundamental and Personal

Why does food safety feel so personal? At the outset, it's deeply fundamental to our survival and well-being. As the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) says, "If it is not safe, it is not food." We must eat to survive, just as we must breathe, sleep, be sheltered and clothed, establish personal and financial security, and make social connections. Unsafe food and water threaten our health and our very lives. We must have sustenance to survive; therefore, safe food is not an option.

Food safety is also personal because it factors into our bodily autonomy—something that is (and should always be) a fundamental right for all people, everywhere. "You are what you eat," goes the old expression, and this is largely true because so much of our physical health and growth are dependent on the nourishment we put into our bodies. Most of us are able to choose which foods we consume, and all of us should be able to rely on choosing and consuming foods that don't make us sick. And yet, the statistics on foodborne illness remain unacceptably grim: approximately 600 million cases and an estimated 420,000 deaths per year worldwide—with 30 percent of those deaths attributed to children under the age of five. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 48 million people fall sick and 3,000 die each year from foodborne illnesses.

As food safety professionals, we are consumers, too. If the foods our industry produces aren't safe for consumption, then we also fall victim to the consequences—with the added burden of responsibility. It takes many intelligent, responsible, caring people working closely together around the clock to keep global food and water supplies fit for human and animal consumption. As columnist Bob Ferguson writes in this issue's Food Safety Insights article, "Food safety professionals are—and have always been—essential workers."

As I write this Editor's Letter, we have recently celebrated the fourth World Food Safety Day on June 7 and are looking ahead to U.S. National Food Safety Education Month in September. Enhancing consumer education and awareness of food safety are important components of both events. To this end, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Partnership for Food Safety Education, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offer numerous resources to engage consumers in good food safety practices. There are also abundant resources and initiatives for industry, which is where food safety begins. For example, the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness offers many resources on its website to help different levels of industry work together to combat foodborne outbreaks, as well as spotlight personal stories of foodborne illness victims to inspire awareness and dedication to keeping food safe. This year, Stop Foodborne Illness released a free food safety culture toolkit for industry shortly after World Food Safety Day—a welcome way to mark the annual event.

Although we commemorate World Food Safety Day and National Food Safety Education Month just once a year, the discussions and resources issued around these important occasions remain relevant, and they should be leveraged to help improve food safety 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The need for safe food never stops—and it never stops being personal.