How Codex Helps Address the World’s Top Five Foodborne Hazards
Following the release of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) new foodborne disease burden estimates, WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are highlighting how Codex Alimentarius standards and related work are providing solutions to the top foodborne hazards.
The Top Five Hazards Driving the Global Foodborne Disease Burden
According to the updated estimates, 42 hazards caused approximately 866 million illnesses and 1.52 million deaths in 2021. The top five hazards contributing to the global burden of foodborne disease, measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), are:
- Inorganic arsenic: 2.21 million illnesses, 641 thousand deaths, 15.4 million DALYs.
- Lead: 1.66 million illnesses, 466 thousand deaths, 11.2 million DALYs
- Non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica: 23.5 million illnesses, 55.1 thousand deaths, 3.58 million DALYs
- Salmonella Typhi: 2.74 million illnesses, 36 thousand deaths, 2.84 million DALYs
- Methylmercury: 2.02 million illnesses, 0 deaths, 2.43 million DALYs.
How Different Countries Use Codex to Prevent Foodborne Disease
In the theme of World Food Safety Day 2026, “From Burden to Solutions—Safe Food Everywhere,” which took place on June 7 and coincided with the release of the updated estimates, WHO and FAO published a document outlining the solutions to this “largely preventable” burden of foodborne disease offered in Codex standards, guidelines, and codes of practice.
The document also provides examples of how national regulatory bodies around the world have used Codex guidance to inform their own food safety standards. For example, Japan uses Codex texts to tailor local agricultural guidelines for growing rice, which is a major contributor to arsenic exposure; and in Singapore, where arsenic exposure via rice is also an important issue, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) uses Codex maximum limits as a benchmark for its own food safety standards and monitoring programs. Additionally, in the U.S., Codex work on lead maximum limits heavily influenced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA’s) review of lead levels in juice.
The full WHO/FAO publication, Codex in Action: Codex Work Provides Solutions to the Top Food Safety Hazards, can be read here.
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