WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/193
11 July 2000
(00-2830)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English/
French/
Spanish
FOOD SAFETY
Submission by the World Health Organization (WHO)
The 53rd Session of the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health
Organization, was held in Geneva on 15-20 May 2000.  The Assembly discussed the issue of food
safety and adopted the following resolution addressed to both Member States and the Director-
General of WHO.
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The Fifty-third World Health Assembly,
Deeply concerned that foodborne illnesses associ ated with microbial pathogens, biotoxins and
chemical contaminants in food represent a serious thr eat to the health of millions of people in the
world;
Recognizing that foodborne diseases significantly affect people’s health and well-being and
have economic consequences for individuals, families, communities, businesses, and countries;
Acknowledging the importance of all services – including public health services – responsible
for food safety, in ensuring the safety of food and in harmonizing the efforts of all stakeholders
throughout the food chain;
Aware of the increased concern of consumers a bout the safety of food, particularly after
recent foodborne-disease outbreaks of international and global scope and the emergence of new foodproducts derived from biotechnology;
Recognizing the importance of the standards, guidelines and other recommendations of the
Codex Alimentarius Commission for protecting the health of consumers and assuring fair trading
practices;
Noting the need for surveillance systems for assessment of the burden of foodborne disease
and the development of evidence-based national and international control strategies;
Mindful that food safety systems must take account of the trend towards integration of
agriculture and the food industry and of ensuing changes in farming, production, and marketing
practices and consumer habits in both developed and developing countries;
Mindful of the growing importance of microbiological agents in foodborne-disease outbreaks
at international level and of the increasing resistance of some foodborne bacteria to commonG/SPS/GEN/193
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therapies, particularly because of the widespread use of antimicrobials in agriculture and in clinical
practice;
Aware of the improvements in public health protection and in the development of sustainable
food and agricultural sectors that could result fro m the enhancement of WHO’ s food safety activities;
Recognizing that developing countries rely for their food supply primarily on traditional
agriculture and small- and medium-sized food industry, and that in most developing countries, the
food safety systems remain weak,
1. URGES Member States:
(1) to integrate food safety as one of their essential public health and public nutrition
functions and to provide adequate resources to establish and strengthen their food safety
programmes in close collaboration with their applied nutrition and epidemiological
surveillance programmes;
(2) to develop and implement systematic and sustainable preventive measures aimed atreducing significantly the occurrence of foodborne illnesses;
(3) to develop and maintain national, and where appropriate, regional means for
surveillance of foodborne diseases and for monitoring and controlling relevant
microorganisms and chemicals in food; to reinforce the principal responsibility of producers,
manufacturers, and traders for food safety; and to increase the capacity of laboratories,
especially in developing countries;
(4) to integrate measures in their food safety policies aimed at preventing the
development of microbial agents that are resistant to antibiotics;
(5) to support the development of science in the assessment of risks related to food,
including the analysis of risk factors relevant to foodborne disease;
(6) to integrate food safety matters into health and nutrition education and information
programmes for consumers, particularly within primary and secondary school curricula, and
to initiate culture-specific health and nutrition education programmes for food handlers,
consumers, farmers, producers and agro-food industry personnel;
(7) to develop outreach programmes for the private sector that can improve food safety at
the consumer level, with emphasis on hazard prevention and orientation for good
manufacturing practices, especially in urban food markets, taking into account the specific
needs and characteristics of micro- and small-food industries, and to explore opportunities forcooperation with the food industry and consumer  associations in order to raise awareness
regarding the use of good and ecologically safe farming and good hygienic and manufacturing
practices;
(8) to coordinate the food safety activities of all relevant national sectors concerned with
food safety matters, particularly those related to the risk assessment of foodborne hazards,including the influence of packaging, storage and handling;
(9) to participate actively in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its
committees, including activities in the emerging area of food-safety risk analysis;G/SPS/GEN/193
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(10) to ensure appropriate, full and accurate disclosure in labelling of food products,
including warnings and best-before dates where relevant;
(11) to legislate for control of the reuse of containers for food products and for the
prohibition of false claims;
2. REQUESTS the Director-General:
(1) to give greater emphasis to food safety, in view of WHO’s global leadership in public
health, and in collaboration and coordination with other international organizations, notably
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and within the Codex
Alimentarius Commission, and to work towards integrating food safety as one of WHO’s
essential public health functions, with the goal of developing sustainable, integrated food
safety systems for the reduction of health risk along the entire food chain, from the primary
producer to the consumer;
(2) to support Member States in the identification of food-related diseases and the
assessment of foodborne hazards, and storage, packaging and handling issues;
(2 bis) to provide developing countries with support for the training of their staff, taking into
account the technological context of production in these countries;
(3) to focus on emerging problems related to the development of antimicrobial-resistant
micro-organisms stemming from the use of antimicrobials in food production and clinical
practice;
(4) to put in place a global strategy for the surveillance of foodborne diseases and for the
efficient gathering and exchange of information in and between countries and regions, taking
into account the current revision of the International Health Regulations;
(5) to convene, as soon as practicable, an initial strategic planning meeting of food safety
experts from Member States, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations
with an interest in food safety issues;
(6) to provide, in close collaboration with other international organizations active in this
area, particularly FAO and the International Office of Epizootics (OIE), technical support todeveloping countries in assessing the burden on health and prioritizing disease-control
strategies through the development of laboratory-based surveillance systems for major
foodborne pathogens, including antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, and in monitoring
contaminants in food;
(7) in collaboration with FAO and other bodies as appropriate, to strengthen the
application of science in the assessment of acute and long-term health risks related to food,
and specifically to support the establishment of an expert advisory body on microbiologicalrisk assessment and to strengthen the expert advisory bodies that provide scientific guidance
on food safety issues related to chemicals, and to maintain an updated databank of this
scientific evidence to support Member States in making health-related decisions in these
matters;
(8) to ensure that the procedures for designating experts and preparing scientific opinions
are such as to guarantee the transparency, excellence and independence of the opinions
delivered;G/SPS/GEN/193
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(9) to encourage research to support evidence-based strategies for the control of
foodborne diseases, particularly research on risk factors related to emergence and increase of
foodborne diseases and on simple methods for the management and control of health risks
related to food;
(10) to examine the current working relationship between WHO and FAO, with a view to
increasing the involvement and support of WHO in the work of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission and its committees;
(11) to support Member States in providing the scientific basis for health-related decisions
regarding genetically modified foods;
(12) to support the inclusion of health considerations in international trade in food and
food donations;
(13) to make the largest possible use of information from developing countries in risk
assessment for international standard-setting, and to strengthen technical training in
developing countries by providing them with a comprehensive document in WHO working
languages, to the extent possible;
(14) to proactively pursue action, on behalf of developing countries, so that the level of
technological development in developing countries is taken into account in the adoption andapplication of international standards on food safety;
(15) to respond immediately to international and national food safety emergencies and to
assist countries in crisis management;
(16) to call upon all stakeholders – especially the private sector – to take their
responsibility for the quality and safety of food production, including environmentalprotection awareness throughout the food chain;
(17) to support capacity building in Member States, especially those from the developing
world, and facilitate their full participation in the work of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission and its different committees, including activities in food safety risk analysis
processes.
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