Food Safety

There are currently 52.5 million people suffering from hunger in the region. Latin America and the Caribbean was able to reduce the incidence of hunger from 54 million people in 1990 to 47 million in 2005. Between 2006 and 2009, 15 years worth of progress was reversed due to rising international food prices and the economic and financial crises.

Access to food is the region's Achilles' heel; in a region that is a net producer and exporter of food, hunger exists because the most vulnerable sectors lack the necessary financial means to access it.

Another equally important issue is food safety. Millions of people die every year around the world due to food-borne diseases. Safety is also key to maintaining the viability of international exports and interregional food trade.

FAO Member Countries established the fight against hunger and the promotion of food security and safety as their number one priority at the Twenty-first Regional Conference.

More Information

• Report on FAO activities in the region (2008–2009)
• Food and nutritional security: the human right to food 
• Report on Codex Alimentarius and food security in the region
• The Hunger-free Latin America and Caribbean Initiative supports the creation of five parliamentary coalitions against hunger in 2011 in Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay.
• FAO brings together Caribbean, South and Central American countries to analyse specific ways to confront food price increases and volatility