FAO: Illnesses caused by unsafe foods affect 866m people, leading to an estimated $110bn a year in lost productivity and medical costs

Eradicating hunger requires adequate production and distribution of food, and also confidence that it will not make one ill, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said today at the Borlaug International Dialogue of the World Food Prize 2026 opening ceremony.

“Food that makes people sick does not feed them,” he said, noting that unsafe food causes illnesses affect 866 million people, leading to an estimated $110 billion a year in lost productivity and medical costs in low- and middle-income countries alone.

He spoke at the ceremony awarding the 2026 World Food Prize to Huub Lelieveld, a Dutch scientist who over six decades led research, advocacy, and institution-building in the food safety sector, contributing vastly to globally harmonized standards.

The annual prize, in honor of Norman Borlaug, considered one of the fathers of the Green Revolution that lifted hundreds of millions of people out of hunger thanks to his work on higher-yielding wheat varieties, was awarded in Des Moines at a high-level gathering drawing more than 1,000 participants from more than 60 countries and 600 organizations, including with four agriculture ministers and past World Food Prize recipients.

The Director-General hailed Lelieveld’s lifelong conviction that "access to safe food is a universal right” and noted how FAO provides technical support for capacity building in developing countries for the implementation of food safety standards, particularly in import-dependent nations, where harmonized standards save lives and reduce trade costs.

Safety is key for trust and transformation of agrifood systems

In his speech, “What Will It Take to Feed the Future?” FAO’s Director-General noted that his theme was simple yet complex.

Three global imperatives – growing enough food to feed a growing population with less inputs while safeguarding the environment; ensuring that food is safe and nutritious; and ensuring that food reaches all the people who need it most – undergird the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031, Qu noted, adding that they are an intrinsic to the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

Better production was at the core of Borlaug’s work, credited with saving an estimated one billion lives. The Director-General highlighted the role of science and innovation in his achievements, as well as the importance of infrastructure such as roads, irrigation and market institutions, adding that these are even more important today.

Better nutrition intersects with Lelieveld's work, Qu added, noting how robust global food safety regulations and practice dismantle barriers to safe food trade and aid as well as prevent illnesses.

Food safety problems do not respect borders or income levels,” he added, recalling how aflatoxin affected maize across the American Midwest after a drought in 2012. That same contamination is a scourge in much of Africa and South Asia, posing risks to health and income and keeping farmers out of markets that would pay them more, he added.

Critical institutions for effective food safety include the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the International Plant Protection Convention, both hosted at FAO. FAO’s new Global Partnership Programme for Transboundary Animal Diseases (GPP-TAD) is another essential pillar, protecting producers in every country through shared surveillance, biosecurity and rapid response protocols.

Lastly, agrifood systems need to be made more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable to broaden food accessibility and support the right to good foods for all, Qu said.

In welcoming remarks to a dinner Tuesday in honor of all World Food Prize winners, FAO’s Director-General hailed all who contribute to the science, standards, vigilance and other activities across the food chain who allow people to assume their meals are safe.

“Safe food is the foundation of food security,” Qu said. “Without it, we cannot call it food. Safe food nourishes us, supports livelihoods and builds trust in agrifood systems.”