Every year, people around the globe mark World Food Day on October 16 to commemorate the date the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) was founded in 1945. Now, 77 years later, our planet has experienced a devastating pandemic and international turmoil that has impacted food systems and supply chains. This year's theme for World Food Day is "Leave No One Behind," and aims to inspire collective action to make food systems more efficient, inclusive and sustainable.
Ensuring foods are nutritious, safe and sustainable are the key pillars upholding ILSI's work. Our multi-sectoral cooperation in research provides evidence-based findings and information to bolster public health around the world. ILSI's scientific publications—which have never been retracted—have been a source of pride for more than 40 years.
ILSI's research is also international in its scope. To that end, ILSI Global and various ILSI entities around the world have worked with FAO and other UN agencies. Just this past June, ILSI hosted a presentation and panel discussion with Dr. Israel Rios Castillo, the Nutrition Officer with the FAO Subregional Office for Mesoamerica, based in Costa Rica. His talk, titled "FAO 2030 agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean," focused on initiatives to improve population health. Dr. Rios Castillo was joined by leaders from the European Union, the U.S. and Asia to round out the global discussion and exploration of key initiatives to improve public health.
In addition, ILSI just released a new scholarly book, Present Knowledge in Food Safety, which presents a holistic approach to scientific advances and applications in risk assessment at key stages in the food supply chain. Present Knowledge in Food Safety covers new and emerging science in the risk assessment paradigm as applied to chemical, physical and microbiological safety issues at each contiguous stage of the food chain – from farm to consumption. This book is a first-line resource for professionals, students, scholars, scientists and government agencies working on food, agriculture and risk analysis. That's why it's important and notable that eight chapters in this latest book from ILSI were contributed by FAO experts.
Finally, as part of the latest ILSI Federation newsletter on sustainability, ILSI entities across Asia and Latin America promoted FAO events. In addition to promoting World Food Day, the ILSI Federation highlighted the recent Asia-Pacific Symposium on Agrifood Systems Transformation, as well as the Regional Conference During a Historic Moment, which brings together the governments of the 33 Member States of FAO in Latin America and the Caribbean to establish the regional FAO priorities for the next two years.
As an international federation focused on delivering evidence-based science to help solve the world's most pressing nutrition, food safety and sustainability challenges of the 21st century, ILSI Global and ILSI entities work synergistically with organizations like FAO to improve health, wellbeing and the environment all around the globe. ILSI's structure and role as a neutral forum in research provides a platform for organizations to expand their initiatives and deepen their impact. On this World Food Day, the ILSI community hopes to continue to engage with FAO and its activities for many years to come.