If it isn't safe, it isn't food.
That message sits at the heart of a major new global effort by the World Health Organization (WHO).
University of Waterloo public health researcher Dr. Shannon Majowicz contributed research to the new WHO estimates, which cover the global burden of foodborne disease between 2000 and 2021.
The estimates, which were released in mid-June alongside peer‑reviewed publications and webinars presenting key findings, represent the most comprehensive updates to date, bringing together global data on the illnesses, deaths and long-term health impacts such as paralysis, cancer and kidney disease associated with unsafe food.
Foodborne diseases, which are largely preventable, remain a significant public health concern around the world, affecting hundreds of millions of people each year.
By standardizing methods and bringing together data from across countries and regions, the new WHO estimates aim to provide governments, public health agencies and researchers with a clearer picture of where risks lie and how they can be reduced.
Waterloo expertise contributing to global effort
Majowicz and collaborators updated 22 of the 42 WHO estimates, focusing on the global, regional and national burden of both diarrheal and invasive enteric pathogens, which contribute to serious illness, long-term complications such as kidney disease, paralysis, septicemia, central nervous system infection, as well as death.
"Our aim was to better understand the burden of foodborne illness," Majowicz says. "How many people are affected? How many develop severe consequences? How many die?"
This research highlights an important reality: Despite general declines over time, diarrheal and invasive enteric pathogens transmitted by contaminated food continue to be a substantial cause of illness and death globally.
In the study of diarrheal pathogens, Majowicz and colleagues found that in 2021, 14 diarrheal pathogens caused 666 million illnesses, with 265,000 deaths, due to contaminated food. The African continent bore the highest disease burden. In the invasive pathogen study, the transmission of eight pathogens by food caused 24 million illnesses, with 106,000 deaths, mostly in Africa and southeast Asia.
Uneven global health challenge
Moreover, the studies, which are published in the Lancet Global Health (WHO estimates of the global, regional, and national burden of 14 foodborne diarrhoeal enteric hazar… and WHO estimates of the global, regional, and national burden of eight foodborne non-diarrhoeal enteri…), reveal that foodborne disease remains an uneven global health challenge, with unsafe food disproportionately affecting children, populations in lower-income regions and communities with limited access to clean water, sanitation and strong food systems.
For example, children under five make up nine per cent of the population studied but bear 30 per cent of the disease burden.
The updated estimates provide governments with the evidence they need to justify investing in food safety and foodborne disease prevention measures, Majowicz says.
"By quantifying illness, death and long-term health impacts, these estimates give governments the data they need to invest in food safety systems, strengthen hygiene and infection prevention measures, improve surveillance and data collection and target interventions where they are needed most.
"Without it, it can be difficult for policymakers to prioritize food safety alongside other urgent health issues."
