BfR software FoodChain-Lab enables rapid action in the event of disease outbreaks
Prepare for the unexpected: World Food Safety Day on 7 June 2024
Every year, one in ten people worldwide falls ill as a result of impurity (contaminated) food. The World food safety Day on 7 June 2024 therefore draws attention to the importance of Safe food and the challenges that still exist under the motto “Prepare for the unexpected”. Pathogenic microorganisms can enter food in various ways. This makes it all the more important to find the source of the impurity. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) developed the FoodChain-Lab software for tracing chains of goods back in 2011 during the bacterial EHEC outbreak and has continued to develop it further. “In the event of a foodborne disease outbreak, the source must be found quickly,” says Professor Andreas Hensel, President of the BfR. “We are therefore pleased that our software is also being used by other international food authorities to solve problems – because food safety is a global challenge.”
FoodChain-Lab is a freely available open-source software for tracing chains of goods. The software makes chains of goods visible and enables interactive analyses. For each product and each Stop along the supply chain, it estimates the probability that they are linked to an outbreak. The programme also simulates the transmission of pathogens (cross contamination) during the production or processing of a product as well as possible geographical connections. Since 2016, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has also been using FoodChain-Lab as an important tool for its own work.
Additionally, the software is an important tool for the US Food Safety Authority (FDA). As part of the cooperation, which has been in place since 2021, training courses and discussion rounds on FoodChain-Lab were held. The FDA also gave several presentations at the international conference on global commodity chains in risk assessment at the BfR from 27 to 29 May 2024.
All abstracts of the presentations from the conference can be found on the BfR Academy website at https://www.bfr-akademie.de/english/archive/2024/gwk2024.html, where the presentations themselves will also be available shortly.
The theme for this year's World Food Safety Day is “Be prepared for the unexpected”. It emphasises the importance of being prepared for food safety incidents.
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Topic world Food safety
Food safety is at the heart of the food and beverage industry. It ensures that the food we eat every day is not only nutritious, but also free of harmful contaminants. From field to plate, the industry monitors and regulates every step of the process with strict quality controls, advanced testing methods and continuous research.
Topic world Food safety
Food safety is at the heart of the food and beverage industry. It ensures that the food we eat every day is not only nutritious, but also free of harmful contaminants. From field to plate, the industry monitors and regulates every step of the process with strict quality controls, advanced testing methods and continuous research.
