June seventh is World Food Safety Day. The 2025 theme (by the World Health Organization (WHO)) is: “Science is at the heart of food safety. It helps us understand what makes food unsafe and guides us on how to prevent foodborne diseases. The theme of World Food Safety Day on 7 June 2025 draws attention to the use of scientific knowledge as key to reducing illness, cutting costs, and saving lives.”
Health Canada said that every year, 11 – 13 million Canadians get sick from the food they eat, and some die.
Here are some key facts, from the WHO:
- Food safety, nutrition, and food security are inextricably linked
- Every year, an estimated 600 million — almost 1 in 10 people in the world — fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420,000 people die
- 40% of children, under 5 years of age, are affected by contaminated food, with 125,000 deaths, every year
- Foodborne diseases impede socioeconomic development by straining healthcare systems and harming national economies, tourism, and trade
And the WHO states that “Foodborne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food. Chemical contamination can lead to acute poisoning or long-term diseases, such as cancer. Many foodborne diseases may lead to long-lasting disability and death.”
Here are some examples:
- Bacteria — such as Salmonella, Listeria, and Vibrio cholerae
- Viruses — such as norovirus
- Parasites — such as tapeworms
- Prions — an infectious protein, such as one that results in mad cow disease
- Chemicals — naturally occurring toxins and environmental pollutants that can affect the immune system, neurological functions, and can cause cancer
You can read more about these factors, where they come from, and how they can affect us, on this WHO webpage.
The WHO created five points to help people stay safe in their daily food handling:
- Keep clean
- Separate raw and cooked
- Cook thoroughly
- Keep food at safe temperatures
- Use safe water and raw materials
Food Safety at Covenant House Vancouver
Last year, Covenant House Vancouver (CHV) served 141,856 meals to young people. Through CHV’s programs and services, we serve 144 youth every day in a variety of different ways.
From preparing meals and snacks for youth to educating youth about food safety, CHV take nutrition, food security, and food safety very seriously.
Food Services
Nutritious meals are an important part of our wraparound services that we provide to youth, because food fuels your muscles, your brain cells, and your dreams. As such, staff who work in Food Services must have a valid FOODSAFE Level 1 certificate and relevant formal culinary arts training at a recognized school, or equivalent cooking experience in the food services industry.
The chefs ensure food safety through a combination of education and practices that focus on strict hygiene standards that include proper handwashing and maintaining clean surfaces; separating raw and cooked foods to prevent cross-contamination; cooking to safe internal temperatures using a food thermometer; and prompt cooling and refrigeration of food to help prevent bacterial growth.
To keep individuals with food allergies safe when preparing and serving food, staff prioritize the avoidance of cross-contamination by using separate utensils, cutting boards, and cooking surfaces. They carefully read food labels to identify allergens and are mindful of precautionary statements (noting the “may contain” statements) that may indicate potential cross-contamination during manufacturing. Foods are stored separately, and staff have an action plan should an allergic reaction occur.
Educating Youth About Food Safety
Many youth who come to CHV have never cooked before. Education about food safety has to include every element of a food’s journey from store to plate. As one life skills coordinator shared: “It’s not uncommon [before any training] to hear of a youth who has eaten their leftovers two weeks after they have been cooked.”
There are three main ways that youth can learn about food safety at CHV: it could be through meal preparation taught by one of our chefs, it could be through collaborations with organizations, and it could be through CHV’s life skills coordinators.
Whenever a chef at CHV teaches skills around food preparation, they incorporate the education and practices that they follow in the CHV kitchen.
Through the Cook Up Your Future program, offered by La Tablée des Chefs, that takes place in the Rights of Passage teaching kitchen, youth not only learn how to prepare dishes, but they also learn about cross-contamination, proper cooking temperatures, cleanliness and sanitization, and food storage.
The life skills coordinators at CHV teach the young people we serve many valuable life skills that include budgeting, shopping, and food preparation. They can help youth obtain any certifications that they may need for work, such as FOODSAFE; they are present to help facilitate food preparation, like during Cook Up Your Future; and they host workshops and one-on-one sessions to help young people learn about the importance of food safety.
For the life skills coordinators, food safety begins at the grocery store. They help youth plan their excursions so that they collect any canned, processed, or fresh food first, and then grab any refrigerated, frozen, or hot foods last, so that those items aren’t sitting in the cart for too long. Packing items is also important as you don’t want to pack cold and hot foods together as they will affect each other’s temperatures that will put them at risk of developing bacteria.
When it comes to food preparation, the coordinators incorporate all of the practices that the CHV chefs use: cleanliness, avoiding cross-contamination, cooking food to the correct temperatures, and proper food storage.
Food safety support does not end at CHV. Often, life skills coordinators will receive calls from youth who have moved out of CHV and into the community. Cooking something on your own for the first time can be stressful, and the life skills coordinators are there to help youth create delicious meals that follow food safety protocols.
If you would like to learn more about food safety and perhaps even test yourself on your knowledge and practices, the life skills coordinators have shared an online education tool that can help you with your food safety practices.
Have a happy, and healthy, summer, by practicing food safety!