Scienceonline

Geneva - Outbreaks of food contamination occur regularly across the world, and illness and death from diseases caused by unsafe food are a constant threat to populations everywhere. However, the full picture of the impact and costs of foodborne diseases - in industrialized as well as developing countries - is to date unknown. Many foodborne disease outbreaks go unrecognized, unreported or uninvestigated and may only be visible if connected to major public health or economic impact.



Next Thursday the World Health Organization (WHO) will hold the international Foodborne Disease Stakeholder Event which will discuss a five-year project on the effect of foodborne diseases on health as well as economic costs to countries. Over 200 stakeholders have been invited to attend the event, representing Member States, the food and agriculture industry, consumer groups, donors, and the scientific media.

What: International Foodborne Disease Stakeholder Event

Who: Food safety stakeholders including governments, non-governmental organizations, industry, donors, the media and consumer groups.

When: Thursday 20 November 2008 from 10h00 am

Where: International Conference Centre, Geneva (CICG), 17 rue de Varembé, CP 13, CH - 1211 Geneva 20.

Note: Journalists are invited to a press conference which will be held at 12h00 noon, Room 13.

For journalists outside Geneva, dial-in is available on +41 (0) 22 791 96 13 in order to listen to the press conference and ask questions.

Speakers will be:

Dr Jørgen Schlundt, WHO, Director of the Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases

Dr Claudia Stein, Head of WHO Initiative to Estimate the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases

Professor Arie Havelaar, Professor of Microbiological Risk Assessment, Utrecht University, the Netherlands Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences Deputy Head, Laboratory for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology