Abstract
WHO has identified five pathways that outline how food systems can impact health, including unhealthy diets and food insecurity, zoonotic pathogens and antimicrobial resistance, unsafe and adulterated foods, environmental contamination and degradation, and occupational hazards. The WHO carried out studies on the global burden of foodborne illnesses in 2015, indicating that vulnerable people, particularly those in developing nations, are the most concerned. Unhealthy diet and malnutrition remain at the top ten of the identified risk factors for the global diseased burden. WHO provides science-based food safety risk assessments and evidence-based guidelines on foodborne hazards and nutrient requirements throughout life stages. WHO is currently developing food-based guidelines, covering meat, dairy, and fish intake, as well as scientific opinions on food processing levels. However, the issue of how to combine all of the guidelines into global recommendations for a healthy and sustainable diet remains unanswered. There is a need to develop a more integrated approach to risk and benefit that takes into account the wide range of the populations concerned as well as the new and future foods and food production systems. In this regard, WHO is focusing on developing integrated methodologies and frameworks based on the most recent advances in the risk-benefit assessment for foods and diets, as well as other advancements in decision-making and communication models.