WHO Names Danish Institute as New Centre for Food Risk and Diet Benefits

WHO Collaborating Centres play a key role in advancing WHO programmes across all areas of public health by providing independent, high-quality scientific expertise.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the Research Group for Risk Benefit at the DTU National Food Institute in Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, as a new WHO Collaborating Centre for Risk and Benefits of Foods and Diets, strengthening global efforts to make food safer, healthier and more sustainable.

The new Collaborating Centre will support WHO’s work to estimate the global burden of foodborne diseases and to develop integrated risk–benefit approaches that consider nutrition, food safety and sustainability together. Its contributions are expected to help reduce avoidable illness linked to unsafe food and unhealthy diets, while supporting evidence-based dietary guidance adapted to regional and local contexts.

WHO Collaborating Centres play a key role in advancing WHO programmes across all areas of public health by providing independent, high-quality scientific expertise. WHO says the designation reflects confidence in the DTU group’s capacity to support countries in achieving healthier and safer diets.

Through the collaboration, the Centre will:

• Support WHO in strengthening foodborne disease data, including maintaining and updating global estimates;

• Contribute to the development of an integrated risk–benefit assessment framework that considers nutritional value alongside microbial and chemical food safety risks and sustainability factors; and

• Assist WHO Member States in building national capacity for foodborne disease surveillance, source attribution and risk–benefit assessments.

WHO says the Centre’s work will be critical in addressing the interconnected challenges of food safety, nutrition and sustainability, particularly as countries face rising noncommunicable diseases alongside persistent foodborne illness.

By translating complex scientific evidence into practical policy tools, the collaboration aims to support governments in delivering healthier diets and safer food systems for their populations.

Researchers, policymakers and public health authorities are encouraged to engage with WHO’s risk–benefit initiatives as the new Centre begins its work supporting global food and nutrition strategies.