World Food Safety Day 2024
Food Safety: Prepare for the Unexpected!
Cairo (Egypt), Hybrid Event, 10/06/2024 - 10/05/2024
Food Safety is Everyone’s Business
The FAO and WHO jointly facilitate the observance of World Food Safety Day (WFSD) on 7 June.
The WFSD was established by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018.
For this year’s celebration, under the theme “World Food Safety Day 2024: Prepare for the Unexpected!”, the action-oriented campaign promotes global food safety awareness to strengthen efforts on preventing, detecting, and managing foodborne risks globally by underlining the importance of being prepared for food safety incidents, no matter how mild or severe they can be.
Everyone - from policymakers, experts and producers to processors, distributors, retailers, restaurant outlets and consumers - is encouraged to consider if they are ready for the unexpected, and what they can do to better prepare to ensure everyone has access to safe food, even in case of unpredictable events.
Objectives
The FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (FAO-RNE) with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (WHO-EMRO) will jointly co-organize awareness campaign events and will be inviting the member countries to nominate senior officials representing food safety competent authorities, FAO/WHO International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), and the FAO Food Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF).
The participants will provide their perspectives, views and priorities to be taken into consideration in the ways we look on how can we better work towards ensuring safe and healthy food for everyone.
Agenda and Program
When: Monday 10 June 2024, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM (GMT+3).
Modalities: Hybrid Event | FAO-RNE Duty Station in Cairo (FAO-RNE Conference Room).
Structure and Method: This event comprises three panel sessions with presentations and a dialogue to align priorities, support mutual efforts, and address solutions to enhance ways of working together.
Moderator: Dr. Moustapha Mohamed, Food Safety and Quality Officer, FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa.
Time | Proposed Subject and Content | Speaker |
Opening Session and Remarks | ||
11:00 -11:05 (5 min) | Moderator’s welcome and event guide. | FAORNE Moderator |
11:05 -11:25 (20 min) | Opening Remarks: Objectives and desired outcomes of the event. | Dr. Abdulhakim Elwaer, Assistant Director General and Regional Representative, FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa. Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. |
11:25 – 11:35 (10 min) | Setting the Scene: Regional priorities and challenges to prepare for the unexpected and ensuring fast exchange of information and actions in the event of a food safety unforeseen events. | Dr. Ahmad Mukhtar, OiC Regional Programme Leader, FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa |
Prepare for the Unexpected to Ensure Safe and Healthy Food for Everyone! | ||
11:35 – 11:50 (15 min) | Importance of preparedness and response to food safety outbreaks and emergencies in the context of risk analysis paradigm. | Eng. Mazen Malkawi
|
11:50 – 12:05 (15 min) | A cross-sectoral collaboration in the context of One Health system for managing and responding to emerging food safety incidents. | Dr. Cornelia Boesch, Food Safety Officer, Food Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF) |
12:05 – 12:50
(45 min; 15 min each) | Foodborne outbreak investigation and responses – country management and communication plans
Presented by Food Safety Competent Authorities in 3 countries in the region. | Mr. Khalifa Ali Alhosani, Compliance and Enforcement Support Division Director, ADAFSA (UAE) |
Dr. Azzi Abdelghani, Director of Food and Feed Control and INFOSAN Moroccan Focal point, ONSSA (Morocco) | ||
Dr. Tarek El-Houby, Chairman of the Board of Directors, NFSA (Egypt) | ||
12:50 – 01:05 (15 min) | The International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) – celebrating 20th anniversary in facilitating the rapid exchange of information of food safety events across borders and between members. | Dr. Eva Alzein WHO-EMRO/ HPD/CHE, on behalf of FAO/WHO International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) |
01:05 – 01:20 (15 min) | Food Safety prevention and response preparedness tools – the role of the CAC as an international food standards-setting organization. | Dr. Sarah Cahill, Senior Food Standards Officer, FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) |
01:20 – 01:35 (15 min) | The WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) to ensure food safety and human health protection. | Ms. Christiane Wolff Agriculture And Commodities Division (AGCD), World Trade Organization (WTO) |
01:35 – 01:55 (15 min) | Open discussions, followed by the participants’ feedback from the floor in response to selected guiding questions. | Roundtable Discussions including Q&A
|
Closing Session | ||
01:55 – 02:00 (5 min) |
| Dr. Ahmad Mukhtar, OiC Regional Programme Leader, FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa |
Documents
Watch the videos
- World Food Safety Day launch video message
- Food safety is a shared responsibility. We all have a role to play to
- Food Systems: Our food, our health, our future
- Food safety is everyone's business!
- Food safety is part of food security
- Why partnerships and investments in food safety are essential
- FAO/WHO INFOSAN
- Using foresight in food safety
- Food Safety: Food Control System Assessment Tool (FCSAT)
- WHO-EMRO: From farm to plate, make food safe
- FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR)
- Viruses in food, Who and where are they
- The four CS of food safety
- World Food Safety Day 2023 retrospective video