According to the recently released 2020–2021 Activity Report for the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), the INFOSAN Secretariat responded to 375 international food safety events, which is nearly double the number of incidents in 2018–2019 (162) and the highest number since the network was established in 2004. INFOSAN was established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) for the purpose of connecting authorities in different countries to strengthen national and international food safety systems.
The role of the INFOSAN Secretariat during food safety events is to facilitate communication between FAO/WHO Member States and encourage information-sharing about essential details of implicated products and their distribution, helping to identify the sources of foodborne illness outbreaks in a timely manner. The increase in responses by the INFOSAN Secretariat to food safety events in 2020–2021 could be attributed to the increased awareness of food safety risks, capacity-building activities delivered by the INFOSAN Secretariat, increased reporting of food safety issues, webinars and workshops with FAO and WHO Member States, increased capacity of the INFOSAN Secretariat, and stronger collaboration with key partners. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic, which was at its height during the reporting period, provided motivation for Member States to strengthen food safety systems, including international and cross-sector collaboration for emergency response and risk communication, to ensure the safety of food distributed internationally.