Live food markets: Reducing the risk of influenza virus transmission from animals

More than half of the world's population lives in urban areas. Food markets are the main source of affordable food including fresh produces for many people and have an important economic and social role.

Avian influenza viruses are not transmissible through well prepared and well cooked foods but it can be transmitted from infected animals to humans during handling and slaughtering in wet markets. It is therefore important to limit, as much as possible, close contacts between animals and humans in wet markets.

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• Human infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus

28 February 2013 | GENEVA - A comprehensive assessment by international experts on the health risks associated with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) disaster in Japan has concluded that, for the general population inside and outside of Japan, the predicted risks are low and no observable increases in cancer rates above baseline rates are anticipated.

• WHO news release on the publication of the health risk assessment
• Read the report, executive summary and FAQs

28 February 2013 - The WHO Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses is pleased to announce the launch of FOSCOLLAB - a new data and information platform to guide risk assessment and decision-making in food safety.

By integrating multiple sources of reliable data, FOSCOLLAB helps overcome the challenges of accessing these key sources in a timely manner. It allows for better risk assessment and decision-making by food safety professionals and authorities.

• More information on FOSCOLLAB

Unsafe food causes many acute and life-long diseases, ranging from diarrhoeal diseases to various forms of cancer. WHO estimates that foodborne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases taken together kill about 2.2 million people annually, 1.9 million of them children.

Foodborne diseases and threats to food safety constitute a growing public health problem and WHO's mission is to assist Member States to strengthen their programmes for improving the safety of food all the way from production to final consumption.

In May 2010 the World Health Assembly approved a new resolution on food safety: Advancing food safety initiatives (WHA63.3). This resolution will be used to update the current WHO Global Strategy for Food Safety.

• More about the work of WHO in food safety.