Health officials shine a spotlight on food safety

Top officials in global health and food safety are calling for an international push to stop people from getting sick from unsafe food. At the first annual conference of its kind, leaders from the WHO, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Trade Organization met to talk about how to tackle the widespread issue of tainted food. Food that’s contaminated with bacteria, chemicals, and other unsafe materials sickens 600 million people and kills 420,000 each year, according to the WHO. At the conference in Ethiopia, officials from more than 130 countries talked about making food safety a bigger priority on national and international agendas. “Safeguarding our food is a shared responsibility,” FAO leader José Graziano da Silva said.