Theme: “From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere”
Today, as the world commemorates World Food Safety Day 2026, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) joins the global community in reaffirming the fundamental right of every consumer to safe, nutritious, and properly handled food.
This year’s theme, “From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere,” challenges all stakeholders to move beyond acknowledging food safety challenges and instead focus on practical, coordinated, and sustainable solutions that ensure safe food is accessible to all, everywhere, and at all times.
Food safety is a shared responsibility. It is not the responsibility of regulators alone, nor consumers alone, but a collective obligation involving government institutions, local authorities, producers, retailers, enforcement agencies, and consumers themselves. Each actor in the food value chain has a critical role in ensuring that food reaching the consumer is safe and fit for human consumption.
CCZ continues to observe and receive consumer complaints relating to food safety risks in the marketplace. These include expired products on shelves, poor storage conditions, inadequate hygiene in food handling environments, and misleading or incomplete product labelling. These challenges represent a burden that consumers continue to carry in their daily lives.
However, this burden also presents an opportunity—an opportunity to strengthen systems, improve enforcement, and promote consumer awareness in a way that delivers lasting solutions.
As CCZ, we call for a shift from reactive responses to proactive prevention. This includes:
- Strengthening food inspection and regulatory enforcement across both formal and informal markets;
- Enhancing compliance with food safety standards by all food business operators;
- Improving coordination between regulators, local authorities, and consumer protection institutions;
- Investing in laboratory testing, surveillance systems, and risk-based inspections;
- Strengthening consumer education on safe food handling, storage, and reporting mechanisms;
- Promoting transparency and accountability throughout the food supply chain.
Science-based food safety systems must remain at the centre of these efforts. Evidence, data, and risk assessment should guide interventions to ensure that food safety controls are not only responsive, but preventive and effective.
Consumers also have an essential role to play. An informed and empowered consumer is a key line of defence in food safety. Consumers are encouraged to remain vigilant by checking expiry dates, observing packaging integrity, reporting unsafe products, and demanding accountability from suppliers and service providers.
CCZ remains committed to its mandate of consumer protection and advocacy. We will continue to monitor the marketplace, gather consumer feedback, and engage relevant authorities to ensure that unsafe food products are removed from circulation and that corrective measures are taken promptly.
We further emphasize the importance of collaboration in achieving safe food everywhere. No single institution can achieve food safety alone. It requires coordinated action, shared responsibility, and sustained commitment from all stakeholders.
On this World Food Safety Day 2026, CCZ calls upon all actors in the food system to transform the burden of food safety challenges into practical solutions that protect consumers and strengthen public trust.
Let us work together to ensure that safe food is not a privilege, but a guarantee for every consumer in Zimbabwe.
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ)
Protecting and Promoting Consumer Rights
