“From burden to solutions – safe food everywhere”. This is the message of World Food Safety Day 2026, where the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are focusing on how new knowledge about illness, lost lives, and societal consequences can be translated into practical solutions.
Today, WHO is releasing its latest estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases and associated productivity losses. The estimates are based on international scientific work in WHO’s Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group, FERG. Researchers from DTU National Food Institute have contributed scientific advice, methodological development, and technical analyses.
Foodborne diseases remain a global health burden
WHO estimates that foodborne diseases caused by 42 hazards resulted in 57.1 million DALYs globally in 2021.
“Foodborne diseases affect people across the world, but the burden is not distributed equally. The new estimates make it possible to identify which diseases and risks contribute most in different parts of the world, and where prevention can have the greatest effect,” says Senior Researcher Sara Monteiro Pires from DTU National Food Institute.
The new WHO estimates cover the burden of foodborne diseases at global, regional, and national levels, and show how the disease burden is distributed across different foodborne hazards, age groups, and geographical regions. They are intended to help authorities identify the most important food safety problems, prioritise action, and target prevention towards the risks that matter most in each country.
“The risks vary across regions and countries. It is therefore crucial that countries have access to data that can support decision-making in their own context. When we know which hazards contribute most to the disease burden, we can target food safety interventions more effectively,” says Sara Monteiro Pires.
More knowledge must lead to better prevention
The theme of World Food Safety Day 2026 is “From burden to solutions – safe food everywhere”. It underlines that data on disease burden only create value when they are translated into action.
According to the researchers, the new estimates can help countries develop more effective food safety strategies, strengthen surveillance, and identify data and research gaps.
“This work shows why it is important to measure the burden of disease and associated productivity losses systematically. When countries use the estimates actively, they can make better-informed decisions, allocate resources more effectively, and ultimately prevent more cases of illness,” says Sara Monteiro Pires.
She points out that the work may also have implications for the future of food systems.
“There is strong global attention on the transition towards more sustainable and plant-rich diets. In that context, it is important that we also understand the public health impact of food safety across the entire food chain — for both animal-source and plant-source foods. The new estimates provide a stronger basis for ensuring that the foods of the future are healthy, sustainable, and safe,” says Sara Monteiro Pires.
From global estimates to concrete sources
FERG was established by WHO to advise on methodologies for estimating the burden of foodborne diseases and published the first-ever global estimates in 2015. Together with other international experts, Sara Monteiro Pires and Lea Sletting Jakobsen from DTU National Food Institute have advised WHO on methods for estimating disease burden, generating national-level estimates, and tracking progress in food safety over time.
Sara Monteiro Pires chaired the work estimating how food, different food groups, and other sources of infection contribute to the burden of foodborne diseases. The work builds on DTU National Food Institute’s long-standing expertise in identifying and quantifying the sources of foodborne disease.
“If we want to prevent disease effectively, it is not enough to know which microorganisms or chemicals make people ill. We also need to know where exposure comes from. This knowledge allows us to move from burden estimates to practical food safety action,” says Sara Monteiro Pires.
Chemical hazards are major contributors to the burden
Lea Sletting Jakobsen chaired the work on estimating the burden of disease from chemicals and toxins in food.
“The burden due to chemical hazards in food can be more difficult to communicate than acute infections because the health effects often occur over a long period of time. But as they are associated with important non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancers, and effects on neurodevelopment in children, they can contribute substantially,” says Senior Researcher Lea Sletting Jakobsen from DTU National Food Institute and continues:
“It is therefore relevant that chemical hazards are included in the same priority-setting framework to capture the full magnitude of the burden caused by unsafe foods. However, the means to mitigate the risk differ greatly between microbiological and chemical hazards.”
Denmark already has a national model for estimating the burden of foodborne diseases. This enables authorities to compare different food safety risks and prioritise interventions based on Danish data. It shows how burden of disease studies can be used to compare very different types of risks — from infections caused by bacteria and viruses to the long-term effects of chemical substances in the diet.
“In Denmark, we benefit from detailed, high-quality data, which support precise national assessments. At the same time, the WHO’s global estimates play an important role by offering a shared framework that helps countries identify and prioritise key challenges,” says Sara Monteiro Pires.
Read more
WHO’s main page for the 2026 estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases: WHO Foodborne Disease Estimates 2026
Scientific paper presenting the new estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases: Lancet Global Health paper
DTU National Food Institute’s explanation of disease burden and DALY, Disability-Adjusted Life Years.
Further WHO materials, including the official WHO press release, dashboard and Global Health Observatory page, are expected to be made available in connection with the launch.
