UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon marked World Food Day on Tuesday with a call for a renewed commitment to stamp out chronic hunger and make the right to food a reality for all.

Recalling that the right to food is a human right, Ban stated it is simply unacceptable that in a world of plenty 854 million people suffer from chronic hunger.

"The world has the resources, the knowledge and the tools to make the right to food a reality for all," he said, drawing attention to the theme of this year's Day - Right to Food.

"We must make the voices of these 854 million people heard. We must work to uphold their fundamental human right. We must recognize the role of human rights in eradicating hunger and poverty, and the connection between development, human rights and security," the UN chief said.

Despite the fact that the right to food was included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948, progress towards eradicating hunger has been slow, the Secretary-General noted, urging that far more be done to ensure the most basic of human rights.

According to international law, the right to food is the right of every person to have regular access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food for an active, healthy life. It is the right to feed oneself in dignity, rather than the right to be fed.

World Food Day is celebrated each year on Oct. 16, the day the FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organization) was founded in 1945 in Quebec City, Canada. More than 150 countries around the world will observe the Day this year.