Last reviewed/updated
1 November 2010
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Each day millions of people become ill and thousands die from a preventable foodborne disease. Proper food preparation can prevent many foodborne diseases.
As part of its global strategy to decrease the burden of foodborne diseases, WHO identified the need to communicate a simple global health message, rooted in scientific evidence, to educate all types of food handlers, including ordinary consumers. The Five Keys to Safer Food message, and associated training materials, were developed to provide countries with materials that are easy to use, reproduce and adapt to different target audiences.
The five keys to safer food
- Keep clean
- Separate raw and cooked
- Cook thoroughly
- Keep food at safe temperatures
- Use safe water and raw materials
For more information about the WHO requirements to reproduce or translate the poster, to share your experiences, for potential collaborations or any additional information, please contact directly Françoise Fontannaz at fontannazf@who.int. For regional food safety contacts please go to our contact us page.
The Five Keys materials, including the Train the Trainer course, should not be used for any commercial or income-generating purpose. No element of the Five Keys materials may be used to promote any specific individual, entity or product, in any manner whatsoever.
Dissemination of the five keys to safer food
Launched in 2001, The Five Keys to Safer Food have been adopted and adapted by over 90 countries and serves as the basis for educational programmes for health educators, food handlers, school-children, women and others target audiences involved in food preparation and handling.
The Five Keys to Safer Food were also intensively used in emergency situations to prevent outbreaks of cholera and outbreaks following the tsunami in South East Asia. The Five Keys to Safer Food messages were incorporated into the FAO/UNICEF/WHO social mobilization campaign to combat Avian Influenza.
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Key No 2: Cook food thoroughly, especially meat, poultry, eggs and seafood |
WHO promotes the adaptation of the Five Keys food hygiene message to the local level.
WHO already collaborates with a wide range of partners in different fields of activities (national and international organizations, NGOs, public health institutions, the tourism sector, consumers associations, local communities, industries and academia). However, lowering the burden of foodborne disease requires a renewed effort on the part of governments, scientists, food industry and consumers. WHO offers materials, expertise, technical support and the credibility of an internally recognized public health organization.
Individuals and groups interested in working with WHO to disseminate this important food hygiene message should contact Françoise Fontannaz: fontannazf@who.int. For regional food safety contacts please go to our contact us page.
Implementation in countries of the five keys to safer food
WHO aims to improve the exchange and reapplication of practical food safety knowledge in and between Member States. Countries can highly benefit by exchanging experiences and tested solutions with each other. This section will enable countries and partners to have access to the different tools produced in different parts of the world to deliver the Five Keys messages.
We would appreciate receiving any available documentation on Five Keys projects to facilitate further sharing of knowledge.
Activities recently initiated: Training of food vendors (No documentation)
Activities recently initiated: Training of food vendors (No documentation)
Activities initiated: School food safety campaigns (No documentation)
Activities recently initiated: Promotion of food safety in schools in the millennium villages (No documentation)
Activities recently initiated: adaptation of the poster and training (No documentation)
Antigua and Barbuda has been using the Five Keys To Safer Food developed by WHO/PAHO since 2007 for the training of Foodhandlers. To date, they have trained some 4000 foodhandlers.
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Update [pdf 10kb]
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Adaptation of the poster for use in Antigua and Barbuda [pdf 835kb]
Several municipalities of Argentina integrated the Five Keys to Safer Food into their training for food handlers. As an example, the Food Safety Agency of the Santa Fe province is currently developing a course which will be mandatory for all food handlers (no documentation)
Bolivia used the Five Keys to train food handlers in the context of Healthy Food Markets and training in schools (No documentation)
The Five Keys have been used in the context of Healthy Markets and projects to use the Five Keys in school settings are being considered (No documentation)
The Five Keys were used in Haiti and a creole version of the poster was produced (to be posted when available)
The Ministry of Health is working on the reproduction of the Five Keys poster to make a prevention campaign in Mexico City.
The Five Keys to Safer Food training was used to encourage tourism by decreasing foodborne disease in Maldonado, Uruguay. The core course w as mandatory for all commercial food handlers in Maldonado who were required to pass a test at the end of the course. Approximately 12 000 persons successfully completed the course. Evaluation of the programme showed that the training not only improved the knowledge and behaviour of the food handlers but resulted in a significant decrease in foodborne disease (no documentation)
Each year, Uruguay organizes a food safety day based on the Five Keys message.
A Five Keys to Safer Food training was used to encourage tourism by decreasing foodborne disease in Maldonado.
The WHO Regional Office for the Region of the Eastern Mediterranean printed 500 000 copies of the Five keys posters and 100 000 copies of stickers intended to primary schools and kindergartens in the region. During the months of Ramadan, the Five Keys have been distributed to schools, mosques, restaurants, food manufacturing and food industries.
Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syrian Arab Republic translated the Five Keys poster into local languages.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, Qatar, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen have done small orientation training activities on the Five Keys.
Iran translated the Five Keys to Safer Food Manual and introduced the Five Keys in Community Health workers training programme (No documentation)
Ministry of Health is preparing a health promotion campaign using the Five Keys in English, French and Dutch (No documentation)
Poster was used to teach preventive measures to schools children, to teach post-graduade training courses in food safety (No documentation)
April 2009: Croatia lauches a food safety campaign for tourism using the Guide on Safe Food for travellers (no documentation)
Food safety promotion in schools using the WHO five keys to safer foodZagreb, Croatia, 13 November 2008(no documentation)
Ministry of Health, Direction generale de la sante, is preparing a guide for safe food handling for consumers (No documentation)
The Poster was translated into Kazak and used to train professional food handlers of schools and kindergartens of the South Kazakhstan regions (No documentation)
The poster, manual and leaflet were translated into Macedonian and used in food safety campaigns (No dcumentation for the manual or leaflet)
The National Health Institute (Dr Ricardo Jorge) took the initiative to translate the Five Keys to Safer Food Manual into Portuguese and disseminated the Five Keys message in international congresses and to all the community of countries of Portuguese language.
The Catalan Food Safety Agency adapted the Five Keys and designed designed food safety educational material consisting in a brochure, a DVD and a poster. As the supply of safe drinking water and food are guaranteed in Spain, the 5 keys have been reduced to four.
- Brochure
- Video clip
December 2008 Tajikistan launches a Five Keys to Safer Food initiative (no documenation)
The WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia has translated the Five Keys poster into the 13 languages widely spoken in the region and a guidance booklet on how to adapt the Five Keys to local conditions was prepared (First adapt, then act!). Following the tsunami, the posters and training manuals were distributed widely throughout the affected countries. These materials were used in emergency refugee camps, marketplaces, health care facilities and schools; and helped prevent the secondary outbreak of disease which is often associated with poor sanitation and overcrowding.
The Government of Hong Kong SAR, Center for Food Safety, in 2008 launched a campaign to promote the Five Keys to Safer Food: http://www.cfs.gov.hk/eindex.html
The Food Safety Charter 2009 by which food traders can sign a charter engaging them to promote the five keys to the public and apply them themselves in their premises:
http://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/whatsnew_fstr/whatsnew_fstr_food_safety_charter.html
A large-scale survey about the public's knowledge and use of the Five Keys was undertaken: http://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_nifl/files/NL_survey_result_executive_summary_e.pdf
As part of the campaign, a number of adapted and localized materials have been developed:
http://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/whatsnew_fstr/whatsnew_fstr_food_safety_charter_Publicity_Materials.html
A leaflet was developed for consumers: http://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/multimedia/multimedia_pub/files/5keys_bk_Public_E.pdf
