Since 1903, IDF’s network of dairy experts has provided a platform for the dairy sector to achieve global consensus on feeding the world with safe and sustainable dairy products.

Food safety is crucial for everyone, yet food can become contaminated with hazards such as bacteria, chemicals, fungi, or parasites, leading to over 200 different diseases. These illnesses impact health, livelihoods, education, and economies, but they can be prevented through informed actions.

Observed annually on June 7, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) collaborate to observe World Food Safety Day globally. This day emphasizes that food safety is a collective right and responsibility – everyone must play their part. This year’s theme, “Food safety: science in action,” highlights the importance of scientific knowledge in reducing illness, cutting costs, and saving lives.

Join us this year to celebrate World Food Safety Day, whether you are a policymaker, a food business owner or employee, an educator, or a consumer.

Everyone involved in the food value chain – from producers to processors, transporters, retailers, cooks, and consumers – relies on the universal application of good practices, agreed processes, and standards to keep food safe. These practices are based on the careful and thoughtful application of the best available scientific evidence that explores how and why food can become contaminated and cause illness. Scientists assess and analyze risks to human health associated with known, emerging, and anticipated food safety hazards, providing advice to help policymakers, food businesses, and consumers make safe choices. Without science, maintaining food safety along supply chains, which often span the globe and cross multiple borders, would be impossible. This World Food Safety Day, we celebrate the crucial role that science plays in making informed decisions about food.

International collaboration is key. As highlighted during the FAO/WHO/WTO International Forum on Food Safety and Trade in Geneva, Switzerland, it is essential for scientists, governments, farmers, processors, and control authorities to collaborate throughout the food chain to keep our food safe. This includes setting up appropriate legislation, import controls, and educating consumers on basic safety rules while handling food and ingredients.

Science-based standards to ensure safe food are our day-to-day job. Food safety is at the heart of IDF’s mission. We are committed to safeguarding the integrity and transparency of the dairy supply chain to ensure the safety and quality of milk and dairy products, and to ensure consumers can trust the food products that are produced.

Global standards like Codex, which protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food trade, help gain that trust. IDF has contributed to the development of standards for the dairy sector since 1903 and has closely collaborated with Codex since its inception in 1963 to share its standards and expertise for milk and milk products, with safety and fair-trade practices at heart, along with other international organizations such as FAO, WHO, and ISO.

For over 30 years, IDF has contributed to the development and harmonization of key international standards and guidelines on risk management and good hygienic practices, all aiming to provide safe and sound food. Currently, IDF participates in the development of:

• The Codex revision of the General Principles of Food Hygiene (CXC 1-1969) and its HACCP annex, Codex Committee on Food Hygiene. This document provides a common ground for the control of food safety worldwide and is regularly updated to reflect current approaches to food safety control and scientific knowledge.
• The Codex revision of the date marking provisions in the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods. Harmonized labelling of date marking can address consumer confusion and help consumers make safe and optimal use of foods, including reducing food waste.

IDF leverages the knowledge and expertise of hundreds of passionate individuals around the globe to proactively develop further guidance for the dairy sector. Current projects include:

• Providing practical advice and high-level information on managing non-intentionally added residues for non-specialists.
• Developing guidance on process environment monitoring for microbiological contamination, triggered by recent outbreaks of L. monocytogenes caused by environmental contamination.

IDF consolidates this knowledge to share experiences and improve best practices. For instance, IDF published a review on pasteurization covering technological and microbiological aspects, linking it with nutrition (Bulletin of the IDF 496).

You can count on IDF to continue contributing to food safety. It’s a mission we strongly believe in.

Explore other pages of the IDF website for more information on our work on food safety.