The WHO's Five Keys to Preventing Foodborne Illness

What Happened

WHO's globally-adopted food safety framework distills decades of food-hygiene evidence into five core practices: keep clean, separate raw and cooked food, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures, and use safe water and raw materials.

Informational content based on peer-reviewed research and major health authority guidelines — not medical advice.

Why It Matters

Five simple, globally adopted practices distilling decades of food-hygiene research is a good example of how the highest-impact food-safety interventions are often the least technologically glamorous.

The most sophisticated food-safety system is still built on these five basics.

FET's Takeaway

For a food business of any size, these five keys remain the actual foundation everything else — HACCP, ISO 22000, more sophisticated systems — is built on top of; skipping the basics for the sophisticated system is a common and avoidable mistake.