IPC joins FAO and WHO in celebration of World Food Safety Day

The International Poultry Council (IPC) joins the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and consumers of poultry around the world in celebration of the first-ever World Food Safety Day on 7 June 2019.

Through World Food Safety Day (WFSD), FAO and WHO are pursuing their efforts to mainstream food safety in the public agenda and reduce the burden of foodborne diseases globally.

“The IPC is pleased to join in the celebration of the first-ever World Food Safety Day,” said IPC President Robin Horel. “Access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health, and the world’s poultry producers play an important role meeting the need for safe and affordable meat protein.”

WFSD is being celebrated under the theme "Food safety, everyone's business" to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.

“The poultry supply chain globally has a shared responsibility to ensure actions are taken at each step of food production and handling to minimize food safety risks and is working to advance standards, guidelines and codes of practice that enhance food safety,” Horel said.

“Food safety is, indeed, everyone’s business on World Food Safety Day and on every day,” he said. “We are committed to working to ensure the highest level of food safety from the farm to the consumer in providing safe, sustainable and nutritious poultry products globally.”

The International Poultry Council engages with the FAO, OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) and the Codex Alimentarius and other multilateral international organizations to advance standards, guidelines and codes of practice that enhance food safety.

In a meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, August 27-30, IPC’s members will continue their long-standing work on the development of positions to guide standards, guidelines and codes of practice that enhance food safety.

For information about the International Poultry Council, contact Secretary General Marilia Rangel at marilia@internationalpoultrycouncil.org. Country associations and companies involved in the poultry production and consumption chain are welcome to join the IPC.

The IPC was formed in 2005 by leading poultry-producing countries to determine areas of common interest and develop policies for the overall betterment of the global industry. The organization currently has 29 country members and 56 associate members representing more than 88 percent of the world’s poultry production and 95 percent of the poultry trade.