GENEVA, (Pakistan Point News - 05th Jun, 2026) Unsafe food causes an estimated 866 million illnesses and 1.5 million deaths every year worldwide, highlighting the often-overlooked toll of contaminated food on health, development and fragile economies, according to new data from the UN health agency.
The new insights released ahead of next week’s World Food Safety Day, show that children under five are particularly vulnerable.
Although they account for just 9% of the global population, they suffer nearly one-third of all foodborne diseases, many of them severe diarrhoeal illnesses that can prove fatal, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Exposure to chemicals such as lead and methylmercury through food can also damage developing brains and cause lifelong neurological and developmental problems in children.
“Food safety is not an abstract issue – it touches every meal, every family, every day. Unsafe food has always been a major public health concern, but until now we lacked the bigger picture of its staggering human and economic toll. These new estimates change that,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The study found that foodborne bacteria, viruses and parasites accounted for most illnesses – about 860 million cases in 2021 alone. Yet chemical contamination was responsible for most deaths linked to unsafe food.
According to WHO, chemical hazards accounted for 73% of deaths caused by contaminated food in 2021.
Inorganic arsenic and lead were the leading contributors, largely because prolonged exposure increases the risk of heart disease and cancers. Together, the two substances were linked to more than one million deaths in a single year.
Food can become contaminated through unsafe water, improperly handled products or toxins entering the food chain through environmental pollution and industrial activities.
WHO estimates that foodborne diseases resulted in around $310 billion in lost productivity in 2021 due to time away from work. Adjusted for differences in the cost of living between countries, the economic losses rise to an estimated $647 billion.
“This report is a wake-up call – but also a roadmap,” said Yuki Minato, a WHO technical officer for food safety and senior author of the study published in The Lancet Global Health.
“The data show that foodborne diseases are not only persistent but are being made worse by climate change, which increases contamination risks, and by antimicrobial resistance, which makes infections harder to treat. We cannot tackle these threats alone.”
WHO said the findings should help countries target interventions, strengthen surveillance and improve cooperation across health, agriculture and environmental sectors.
