Risk assessment: Essential ingredient for greater food safety
BfR organizes international symposium in Costa Rica
Pineapples from Costa Rica or fruit juices from Brazil - Latin America and the Caribbean are among the most important import countries for the European Union. International cooperation is needed to strengthen food safety and consumer health protection in both regions. The third Latin American and Caribbean Risk Assessment Symposium (LARAS) will take place from December 10 to 12, 2024. Representatives of European and Latin American food safety authorities will come together at the University of Costa Rica in San José to discuss the latest developments in food risk assessment. Under the motto "Risk assessment: the essential ingredient for food safety", the symposium aims to identify new approaches and effective cooperation strategies for food safety in Latin America and the Caribbean. "Many Latin American countries are heavily dependent on the production and export of agricultural commodities. Food safety therefore plays a special role for them," says Professor Matthias Greiner, Vice President of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). The symposium is also intended to facilitate closer networking between international stakeholders and thus contribute to the promotion of risk assessment.
Together with the University of Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade, the BfR is organizing this year's LARAS. Over the course of three days, speakers from more than ten countries will give presentations on various topics relating to risk assessment and food safety. The focus will be on risk analysis in the food sector, exposure studies and risk communication.
In addition to the wide range of international contributions, the BfR is also organizing workshops on chemical risk analysis and risk communication. Participation in LARAS is possible on site and online. The symposium will be held in Spanish and English.
Cooperation partners of this year's LARAS are the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Regional Organization for Plant and Animal Health (OIRSA), the Spanish Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), the Chilean Food Safety and Quality Authority (ACHIPIA), the Portuguese Food Safety and Economy Authority (ASAE), the Uruguayan Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).
The first LARAS took place in 2019 on the initiative of the Uruguayan Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP) and the BfR. The aim of the current symposium is to contribute to a new approach to food safety based on mutual trust, collaboration, multidisciplinarity and modern science. In addition, LARAS aims to strengthen the Latin American and Caribbean risk assessment community by creating opportunities for collaboration in order to sustainably improve national and regional risk analysis structures
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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