World Food Safety Day 2021
Each year on 7 June, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) celebrate World Food Safety Day. Established in 1979, World Food Safety Day aims to highlight the topics of foodborne risks, food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, and sustainable development, as well as inspire action to help prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks.
We at GLOBALG.A.P. see this important date in the calendar as an opportunity to emphasize our commitment to safe food and underline our mission of supporting the provision of safe food for the world’s population and future generations. In 2021, the theme of Food Safety Day perfectly sums up this goal: Safe food now for a healthy tomorrow. GLOBALG.A.P. celebrated the day by catching up with producers and GLOBALG.A.P. team members around the world.
Food safety begins on the farm
For José Antônio Machado Pinto, who began cultivating blueberries on his farm in Brazil in 2017 after discovering their countless benefits, food safety begins with good farming practices. His 32 hectares of blueberry orchards at Rio Verde farm are under GLOBALG.A.P. IFA certification to ensure his products comply with food safety legislation.
Vanessa Padovan Ligabô, an agronomist at Rio Verde, believes that “the production of safe food puts us in total commitment not only to our final consumer, and their well-being and vitality, but also to the planet, where environmental sustainability and good social practices are also our responsibility.”
GLOBALG.A.P. Technical Key Account Managers (TKAMs) on the topic of food safety
GLOBALG.A.P.’s mission is to foster the global adoption of safe, socially and environmentally responsible farming practices which will help secure the right to safe food for future generations. GLOBALG.A.P. has nearly 140 team members around the world who are dedicated to this mission.
For Helen Prosdocini, TKAM in Brazil, food safety is about respect and equality. “Respect for consumers, producers, and the entire supply chain, the environment, and everything related to food production,” she says. “And equality for all of us, since we all deserve to have access to safe and healthy food.”