Celebrating World Food Day 2024: Mars commitment to food safety and sustainable food systems
By Dr. Abigail Stevenson, Chief Science Officer, Mars
Food is one of the most essential human needs, following air and water. This World Food Day, we unite in our shared belief that everyone has the right to safe, nutritious and sufficient food — for a better life and a better future.
At Mars, we are proud to contribute to this global vision. Through strategic partnerships with commercial, academic and intergovernmental organizations, including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, we are advancing the mission of safe food for all.
As a global company, Mars sources ingredients from millions of farmers worldwide to make products for hundreds of millions of people and pets each year. Our responsibility extends beyond feeding today’s world — we must ensure that our agricultural practices regenerate the environment rather than depleting it. This means minimizing food safety risks, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and unsustainable water use, and eliminating deforestation in our supply chains.
As we commemorate World Food Day on October 16, 2024, we reflect on the pressing global challenges of hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. This year’s theme, Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future, underscores the critical need for equitable access to diverse, nutritious, affordable and safe foods for all.
One example of how we are putting this belief into action is our long-standing partnerships with the FAO and WFP. Since 2015, we have worked with both organizations to help promote food safety and sustainability, with a focus on developing regions, by sharing knowledge and driving evidence-based decision-making. Our collaborations with FAO and WFP are a testament to the power of partnerships. Collaboration between academia, government organizations and corporations is essential to bringing forward new solutions to the complex food challenges we face. Through initiatives like those we tackle with the WFP and FAO, we see that when we come together, we can collectively help to address some of the most significant threats to global food security.
Markus Lipp, Senior Food Safety Officer at FAO Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF) adds: Public-private partnerships, such as the one between Mars and FAO, are a key instrument for FAO's food safety programme to accelerate the agrifood systems transformation and helping to ensure to defeat hunger. Together with Mars, we have been jointly working to exchange critical technical expertise on food safety, all in our joint efforts to advance the support to FAO members to achieve food security through sustainable and resilient agro-food systems.
On this World Food Day, we acknowledge the role of every individual and organization in building safer, more sustainable food systems. Food safety is everyone’s responsibility, and through working together we can ensure that everyone has access to safe and nutritious food.
Call to Action: I invite you to join the conversation(Opens a new window) this World Food Day. Let’s amplify our collective voice to safeguard food safety, reduce food waste and strengthen food security worldwide. Together, we can all be #FoodHeroes, helping build a future where everyone has the right to safe, sustainable food — today and for generations to come.
