Today marks the first ever World Food Safety Day, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018.
World Food Safety Day is a time to reflect on our role in producing safe, sufficient, nutritious food for the world.
Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary, Cindy Briscoe, says Australia's leadership in food safety contributes to global health and strong economies.
"As a nation we export around two thirds of what we grow; providing safe produce from our farmers to people around the world.
"We're able to reliably provide that food to global markets because we have a strong and robust food safety system that is internationally recognised.
"We contribute to food regulation policy, incident responses, export inspection and certification services, and residue monitoring. We also manage food safety risks with imported food by administering a risk-based border inspection scheme.
"To protect human health and ensure fair practices in the food trade worldwide, we've been a member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission-the international food standards-setting body-since 1963.
"Food safety is everyone's business. We collaborate across departments, governments, industry, and international counterparts to provide people everywhere with safe food.
"From the farm to the table, and across dozens of foreign markets that import our produce, people know food from Australia is safe. We work hard to keep it that way."
Visit World Food Safety Day around the globe.
