Monitoring nutritional status and food safety events

Nutrition and Food Safety

The Nutrition and Food Safety (NFS) Department is addressing the burden of disease from physical, chemical and microbial hazards in food and unhealthy diets, maternal and child malnutrition, overweight and obesity.

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Monitoring Nutritional status and Food safety events (MNF)

The Monitoring Nutritional status and Food safety events (MNF) Unit defines indicators and nutrition surveillance systems, hosts and maintain nutrition databases, monitors nutrition trends and measures the impact of country food and nutrition policies. The Unit manages INFOSAN and collaborates with WHE for the management of major food safety events including PHEICs.

News

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3 November 2025

Note for Media

48th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission

26 September 2025

Departmental update

Countries and global leaders recognized for their action to tackle the obesity crisis

22 August 2025

Joint News Release

Famine confirmed for first time in Gaza

Our work

Groups / Initiatives

FAO/WHO International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN)

Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG)

Strengthening national nutrition information systems (EC-NIS project)

Technical Advisory Group on Gestational Weight Gain (TAG-GWG)

Technical Expert Advisory Group on Nutrition Monitoring (TEAM)

Databases

Nutrition and Food Safety Databases

The Global Health Observatory Data on foodborne diseases

Tools and toolkits

Child growth standards

Growth reference data for 5-19 years

Global targets tracking tool

Micronutrient Survey Analyser and other tools

Addressing nutrition in emergencies

Assessing microbiological risks in food

Establishing global nutrient requirements

Measuring child growth through data

Monitoring progress towards global food safety targets

Promoting safe food handling

Assessing chemical risks in food

Establishing global nutrient requirements

Estimating the burden of foodborne diseases

Monitoring micronutrient status in populations

Strengthening foodborne disease surveillance

Strengthening nutrition surveillance

Events

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Launch of WHO guideline on fortification of edible oils and fats with vitamins A and D for public health

17 November 2025 13:00 – 14:00 CET

Forty-eighth session of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission adopts new standards

10 – 14 November 2025

Ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens – reference dose(s) for cereals containing gluten or gluten

3 – 7 November 2025

Call for

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7 November 2025

Call for experts

Call for experts and data on the use of omics-based technologies in microbiological risk assessment

6 November 2025

Call for submissions

Public notice and comment: WHO Guideline Development Group for ultra-processed foods

10 October 2025

Call for authors

Call for authors - Systematic reviews on dietary approaches apart from RUTF for managing severe wasting and nutritional oedema in infants and children

Publications

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Risk assessment of Listeria monocytogenes in foods: part 2: Risk assessment: meeting report

The 52nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) requested the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) to...

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Global nutrition targets 2030: topical briefs on maternal, infant and young child nutrition

Recognizing that the world is not on track to meet all of the 2025 global nutrition targets, WHO Member States, during the 78th World Health Assembly in...

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Global nutrition targets 2030: child wasting brief

Wasting, or being too thin for one’s age, is defined as a weight-for-height that is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization...

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Documents

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This document was prepared in support of the publication "WHO reference protocol for measuring fatty acids in foods, with emphasis on monitoring trans-fatty...

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