The IAFWP in partnership with the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP) organized a symposium on Food and Waterborne Parasites that was held at the 2017 International Conference of the WAAVP in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on September 6, 2017. Several major presentations were given by invited experts who reviewed specific topics in food and waterborne parasitology as related to public health challenges, and advances in the prevention of human disease. A Special Issue based on five of the invited presentations has now been published in IAFWP’s journal, Food and Waterborne Parasitology, and is freely available to all readers (https://www.sciencedirect.