Food safety in the Western Pacific

Access to sufficient amounts of safe and healthy food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health. However, unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances can cause more than 200 diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to cancers.

More than 50 000 people die every year in the Western Pacific Region from consuming unsafe food and another 125 million fall ill from unsafe food. Each year, 30% of cases of foodborne illness are in children under age 5 and an estimated 7000 children die as a result.