According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “unsafe foods” result to “1.5 million deaths” yearly.
This is coming as the the World marks World Food Safety Day 2026 today, Sunday 7 June, 2026.
The specialized Agency of the United Nations (UN) responsible for international public health, added, unsafe foods also cause a massive “866 million illnesses” annually.
WHO posted on X: “Unsafe food causes around 866 million illnesses and 1.5 million deaths annually. They make people sick, harms livelihoods and weakens economies.”
The World Health Governing Body said, diseases that are foodborne remain a huge “burden” on the world, affecting “health and economies”.
It continued, the illnesses foodborne diseases cause are “largely preventable” – the theme for the World Food Safety Day 2026 is ‘From burden to solutions – safe food everywhere’.
According to who.int:
Foodborne diseases remain a major global burden, causing at least 200 illnesses that affect health, livelihoods, education and economies. Yet, they are largely preventable
Also, WHO listed ways to reduce risk of illness from unsafe foods. They include:
” • Cooking meat all the way through
• Washing fruit and vegetable with safe water
• Keeping food at safe temperatures
• Eating a varied diet
• Choosing smaller fish over large ones”
Photo: Fresh foods
