• The global food safety crisis and what Sri Lanka can learn

Food safety is often invisible – until something goes wrong. But the numbers tell a story that can no longer be ignored. 

According to the World Health Organization, every year, unsafe food makes 600 million people ill – nearly one in 10 people on the planet – and causes 420,000 deaths. Thirty percent of those who die are children under the age of five, despite that age group making up only 9% of the global population. 

These are not abstractions. They are preventable tragedies, unfolding daily, across kitchen tables and street food stalls, in hospital wards and fields, in every part of the world.

The economic toll compounds the human cost. The World Bank has estimated that unsafe food costs low- and middle-income economies $ 110 billion every year in lost productivity and medical expenses. Countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka, bear a disproportionate share of this burden. These regions suffer over half of all foodborne illness globally and three-quarters of all foodborne deaths.

The theme of World Food Safety Day 2026 – ‘From burden to solutions – safe food everywhere’ – is a recognition that the problem is real and large but solvable. It is also a call to governments, industries, communities, and individuals to act – not reactively, when outbreaks make headlines, but deliberately and proactively investing in the systems, legislation, and culture that make food safety the norm rather than the exception.

Learning from the region’s leaders

Sri Lanka does not need to look far for inspiration. The Asia-Pacific region includes some of the world’s most robust food safety governance systems, and their journeys hold valuable lessons.

Australia and New Zealand have built what is widely regarded as a model bi-national food regulatory architecture. Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), an independent statutory agency established under dedicated legislation, develops science-based standards that cover the entire food supply chain, from farm inputs and processing aids to labelling and maximum residue limits. The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code is publicly available, regularly updated, and enforced by state and territory governments through a transparent, accountable framework. 

Public consultation is built into every standard development process. Crucially, the system achieves consistency between domestic and international standards, including ‘Codex Alimentarius,’ ensuring that the regulatory platform serves both consumer protection and export competitiveness simultaneously.

Japan offers a complementary model – one built on a culture of food safety, crisis-driven reform, and scientific rigour. Ranked sixth globally in food safety by the Global Food Security Index, Japan’s regulatory system integrates risk assessment, surveillance, and public communication in a manner that has generated exceptionally high consumer trust. 

Japan has also demonstrated leadership in the digitisation of food safety, including ICT-based traceability systems that track food products across value chains – a model the Asian Development Bank has highlighted as transferable to developing country contexts. Tokyo’s investments in traceability and Good Agricultural Practices have become a standard-setting reference for the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Singapore, despite importing over 90% of its food, has constructed a food safety system that is the envy of the region. The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) oversees food safety from import to retail through a proactive, risk-based regulatory framework. 

In January, Singapore took the further step of replacing its longstanding A–D food hygiene grading system with the Safety Assurance for Food Establishments (SAFE) framework – a modernised approach designed to reinforce public trust and move beyond static ratings towards continuous compliance monitoring. Singapore’s regulatory agility, its integration of technology into compliance systems, and its commitment to science-based decision-making have positioned it as a hub for food innovation in the region.

What these leaders share is instructive: independent regulatory bodies with clear mandates; legislation that is comprehensive, modern, and regularly reviewed; strong alignment with international standards such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission; investment in surveillance and traceability; transparent, science-based decision-making; and a culture of shared responsibility across government, industry, and consumers.

SL’s path forward

Sri Lanka is at a pivotal moment in its food safety journey. 

The country already has the institutional architecture – the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Fisheries, a National Codex Committee, and engagement in international standard-setting processes. What is now required is the strengthening and modernisation of these foundations, drawing on the lessons of regional leaders while adapting solutions to Sri Lanka’s unique context.

The Government has been working closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under the Best Standardised Practices for the Agri-Food Sector (BESPA-Food) project funded by the European Union, to advance this agenda. 

A draft food safety policy and a draft food safety act have been prepared, with the FAO’s support, which await deliberation, endorsement, and adoption by the Government. Proposals for seven new regulations have been introduced to address emerging food safety challenges, and a Standard Operating Procedure for regulatory drafting, review, and amendment has been established, bringing the kind of institutional rigour that characterises the best systems in the region.

Legislative reform, however, is only part of the picture. Regulatory impact assessment is a crucial part of the process, ensuring that new regulations are evaluated for their likely effects before implementation, rather than after. This evidence-based, anticipatory approach mirrors the standard-setting practices of Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, where scientific risk assessment precedes regulatory action.

Sri Lanka’s engagement with the Codex Alimentarius Commission is being strengthened, with the FAO’s support. A national codex engagement platform is under development to provide a centralised digital system for document sharing and comment consolidation that will improve the quality and timeliness of Sri Lanka’s input into international standard-setting. This is precisely the kind of institutional investment that enables smaller countries to punch above their weight in global food governance.

Pesticide residue management – a critical determinant of export market access – is also a focus area. For a country with significant agricultural export potential, bringing pesticide residue management up to international standards is not a bureaucratic exercise; it is an economic imperative. 

Technical assistance and capacity-building have been extended to export-oriented farmers, packhouse staff, and extension officers on Good Agricultural Practices and compliance with maximum residue limits. A national residue monitoring plan, using risk-based sampling approaches, is in development.

It is important to recognise that safe food systems require safe food cultures – not only safe food laws. This requires improved capacity among the media for evidence-based food safety reporting, engaging consumer associations and trade organisations in advocacy, accountability, and promoting safer food practices among schoolchildren so as to build the next generation of informed, empowered food citizens.

Sri Lanka also has the opportunity to embrace the digital transformation of food safety that countries like Japan and Singapore have pioneered. Digitising food safety operations – for data collection, traceability, enforcement coordination, and decision-making – would not only improve the efficiency of the national system but would also signal to trading partners and investors that the country is serious about food governance.

A shared responsibility, a national opportunity

The global evidence is unambiguous: food safety is not a cost; it is an investment. Every dollar spent on prevention averts multiples in healthcare costs, lost productivity, and foregone trade. 

Countries that have treated food safety as a strategic national priority have reaped the returns in consumer confidence, export market access, and public health outcomes. Countries that have left it to chance, responding only when crises force their hand, have paid a far steeper price.

Sri Lanka has the institutions, the international partnerships, and the political will to chart a different course. World Food Safety Day 2026 is an opportunity for Sri Lanka to commit to move from burden to solutions, towards a future where safe food is not a privilege but a guarantee, accessible to every person, in every community, everywhere.

(The writer is the FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. With nearly three decades of leadership experience in rural development, agriculture, and food security, he has served in senior government and international roles. A member of the Indian Administrative Service, he has worked extensively in rural India and on national agriculture policy. Prior to his current role, he served as Director of the FAO North America Office and as India’s Permanent Representative to the Rome-based UN agencies)

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)