2025 World Food Safety Day – “Food Safety: Science in Action”

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Note from the President of GFoRSS / IUFoST

Today, we join the global community in celebrating World Food Safety Day 2025 under the theme: “Food Safety: Science in Action”.

This theme serves as a powerful reminder that science is the backbone of safe food systems. While the primary responsibility for food safety remains that of food producers, food regulatory oversight plays a key role in protecting consumers’ health and enabling fair practices in food trade. To be effective, food safety decisions, whether developed and applied by industry or formulated and imposed by food competent authorities must be anchored in science.

Science-driven food regulatory oversight is the cornerstone for maintaining robust food systems that are worthy of consumers’ trust and that foster the development of a vibrant food and agri-food industry.

At this critical juncture, we are witnessing a concerning shift in some leading food regulatory jurisdictions—traditionally seen as a global reference in food regulatory science—where eminent scientists and experts are being sidelined, and science-based decision-making is increasingly replaced by ideology-driven positions. This moment serves as an urgent reminder that science must remain the cornerstone of food safety policy and regulatory action.

Now more than ever, it is essential for food regulatory scientists worldwide to remain vigilant and committed to strengthening scientific capacity and cultivating cross-border collaboration. We need strong voices in food science—and even stronger voices in food regulatory science.

Being a scientist also means embracing the evolving nature of scientific evidence with humility. It requires the willingness to revise decisions as new data emerges, consistently guided by the core objective of protecting consumer health and ensuring a fair, transparent, and predictable regulatory environment.

Let us mark this day by reaffirming our commitment to keeping science at the heart of food safety and regulatory decision-making. In doing so, we strive to build food systems that are agile, inclusive, and resilient—capable of meeting the complex challenges of today and those yet to come.

Together, let’s make food safety everyone’s responsibility—and let science remain our most reliable guide.

Prof. Samuel Godefroy*
President, GFoRSS
President, IUFoST
*Prof. Samuel Godefroy’s scientific activities are funded through multi-stakeholder contributions, including funding from food industry, government and non-for-profit organizations.