The World Food Safety Day is celebrated on 7 June annually, jointly led and facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). With the theme "Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow", the 2021 World Food Safety Day aims at drawing attention and inspiring actions to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, thus contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, access to markets, tourism and sustainable development.

This year celebration highlights the need of sustainable production systems to ensure the health of people, the planet and the economy in the long-term. The food safety is integral to food systems, the way food is grown or produced, processed, transported, stored, distributed, sold, prepared, served and consumed. From food production, to processing, to distribution and storage, to food preparation and consumption, food can be contaminated by pesticides, veterinary drug residues, chemicals, bacteria, parasites, and viruses at any stage of the value chain and can lead to serious illnesses and even death.

Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, elderly and the sick. Globally, according to WHO, unsafe food may cause more than 200 diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. Almost 1 in 10 people in the world fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year. In Cambodia, food safety has become increasingly important to tackle since both imported and locally produced foods have been found to be contaminated with pesticides or other pollutants. Bacterial contamination, including bacteria resistant to antibiotics, is commonly found in animal source foods. According to Dr Heng Bunkiet, Director of Department of Drug and Food (DDF) of the Ministry of Health (as cited in the Mekong Institute website), 134 foodborne outbreaks were reported from 2014 to 2019, resulting in 5 825 cases of illnesses; 5 598 reports of hospitalization; and 81 deaths. 

However, maintaining the safety of food is a complex matter.  We must meaningfully and urgently address food safety concerns. As FAO Director-General QU Dongyu emphasized in his keynote address in the March 2021 Global Food Safety Initiative Conference, food safety comes first – if it is not safe, it is not food and food safety is everyone’s business. “Safe food, from tillage to table, from muddy to mouth, from boat to bowl; this requires a strong collaboration of all stakeholders, public sector, private sector and consumers,” he commented.

FAO’s role is to address food safety issues along the food chain, particularly during production and processing. The overarching goal of FAO’s programme in Cambodia is to contribute to eradicating poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, and improving agricultural productivity as well as management and use of the country’s natural resources.

To meet this overarching goal, addressing food safety concerns with a ‘One Health’ approach is a key priority of FAO in Cambodia. It is reflected under the current 5-year Country Programming Framework (CPF), 2019-2023, particularly under the Country Outcome 1 “Increased productivity, diversification and commercialization of agriculture, including crops, livestock and aquaculture for poverty reduction and food and nutrition security”.

Firstly, what exactly is One Health approach?

One Health is an integrated approach that recognizes that the health of animals, people, plants and the environment is interconnected and the approach ensures that specialists in multiple sectors work together to tackle health threats.

One Health promotes inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary collaboration in the design and implementation of programmes, policies, legislation and research to achieve better health outcomes. It recognizes that there cannot be sustainable improvement to human health without addressing drivers for disease transmission at the human-animal-ecosystem interface, or without a concerted approach.

One Health approach in FAO's work on zoonotic diseases in food safety 

Through the FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), the efforts have been focusing on prevention, detection and control of transboundary animal diseases and zoonotic diseases that pose a major public health risk. Zoonotic diseases are those that are transmitted between animals and humans. Overall approximately 60 percent of all human infectious diseases originate from animals.

In Cambodia, FAO has been working with its main partner – the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) to support the MAFF’s General Directorate of Animal Health and Production (GDAHP) to strengthen the National Avian Influenza Surveillance Programme in several high risk provinces. Building capacity of the GDAHP to effetely control and respond to the outbreak of Avian influenza (AI) has been significantly improved; infected poultry is properly culled ensuring that it does not enter the supply chain and consumed, since this may threaten human health if the food is not properly handled and thoroughly cooked. 

One Health approach in FAO’s work on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

AMR is the ability of microbes – bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites –to grow in the presence of drugs designed to inhibit or kill them. AMR makes infections in humans, animals and plants difficult or impossible to treat and is a significant global threat to public health, food safety, food security, economic and agricultural development. Antimicrobials must be used responsibly and only when needed since all use creates opportunities for AMR. Improper and non-therapeutic use for disease prevention and growth promotion by farmers and stockbreeders is common, but such practice must be halted to avoid further emergence and spread of AMR. ​

Antimicrobial resistance can be passed on from animals to humans through the food chain. Foodborne infections caused by resistant bacteria, such as Salmonella and others pose a particular risk to people because of possible treatment failure. 

In Cambodia, AMR projects are implemented through a coordinated, multi-sectoral, One Health Approach supported by a Tripartite collaboration (FAO, World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and WHO) and through the leadership of three ministries (MoH, MAFF and MoE) to implement the One Health  Multi-sectoral Action Plan (MSAP) on Antimicrobial Resistance in Cambodia 2019–2023. One of the strategic areas endorsed in this MSAP is the containment of the spread and further development of AMR through good practices. Examples include infection prevention and control in health facilities, good agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture practice, water, sanitation, and hygiene. FAO also supported the MAFF’s technical working group on AMR to take appropriate action on the MSAP in order to effectively manage the use of antimicrobials from farm to fork.

The national dialogue on food safety for the upcoming Global Food Systems Summit

In leading up to Global Food Systems Summit taking place in September 2021, the United Nations in Cambodia is supporting the Royal Government of Cambodia to conduct a series of inclusive dialogues, promote awareness and mobilize multi-stakeholder actions to create pathways for more sustainable food systems.

With the leadership of the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) and the support of UN agencies such as FAO, World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in collaboration with MAFF’s Fishery Administration, civil society and private sector, a specific food safety dialogue took place on 4^th of June to ensure it is incorporated into the National Roadmap for Cambodia’s sustainable food systems for 2030; ultimately providing a clear framework and guide actions to improve access to safe and nutritious food for all, ensuring sustainable consumption patterns, promoting environmentally responsible production, ensuring equitable livelihoods and building resilience to shocks.  The vision of Cambodia and its roadmap to sustainable food systems will be presented in the Global Food Systems Summit.

What other concrete actions does FAO promote?

FAO has been involved in many aspects and continues supporting capacity building to the National CODEX Committee chaired by the Consumer Protection Competition and Fraud Repression Directorate General (CCF) of Ministry of Commerce. The aim is to enhance performance and effective participation in Codex activities, related to international standards setting, where Cambodia can advocate for its national position, in this way leading to effectively facilitating international trade for Cambodia’s produce while better protecting the health of its people.

Over the past decades, FAO has supported Cambodia to adopt safe and sustainable agricultural practices, while safeguarding the environment using an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach. It also supported the drafting of the Food Safety law, improve knowledge and capacity of concerned technical departments of the MAFF for the implementation of certification scheme following the national Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) and promote organic standards such as Participatory Guarantee Systems.

The COVID -19 pandemic has furthered highlighted the need to improve food safety in Cambodia. During this challenging time, FAO focuses its efforts to support Cambodia on integration of good practice packages and certification schemes, consumer awareness and protection, a development of street food vending policy, and dissemination of good practices to vendors.

FAO has been supporting the development of Agriculture Development Policy, 2030 and its Actionable Agriculture Master Plan, 2021-2030, which will contribute to increase agriculture production, while improving food safety and quality standards, and enhancing agriculture value added.