27 - Safe food – identifying, understanding and mitigating risks

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Objective

To reduce harmful regulated contaminants and residues throughout the food and feed value chain. Research is based on the ‘One Health’ approach and provides insights into the ‘contaminant pathway’ as well as mitigation methods. A further aim is to proactively detect and assess new, currently unregulated contaminants.

• Specific objectives

  • Ensure that food and feed are free from problematic constituents, especially regulated chemical or biological contaminants – but also new contaminants/residues that are not currently regulated – and that they comply with high quality standards.
  • Further develop preventive measures to maintain safety and quality along the food and feed value chain. This includes, e.g. methods to prevent LMO in smear-ripened cheese or to reduce the concentration of spores in plant-based foods.
  • Identify new risks resulting from climate change and develop preventive strategies to mitigate risks.
  • Identify and prioritise entry sources of antibiotic resistance via microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) in food, detect new antibiotic resistance in the environment and food, and develop measures to minimise entry.
  • Identify and assess the prevalence of newly arising risks associated with new livestock management practices or new cropping methods, develop possible measures and assess their impact on raw milk quality.
  • Improve and develop robust methods to detect and quantify known and new contaminants quickly, cost-effectively and ethically (animal welfare, non-invasive).
  • Develop new strategies based on the use of preventive protective cultures or phages throughout the value chain to prevent spoilage microorganisms and pathogens. Increase shelf life and reduce food waste.
  • Agricultural extention, enforcement, legal compliance
  • Prevalence of pathogenic E. coli (e.g. STEC/EHEC/VTEC) in fresh and prepared food.

Expected outcomes

Sicherstellung des hohen Sicherheitsstandards (unter zusätzlicher Berücksichtigung von neuen, noch nicht regulierten Gefahren) für in der Schweiz erhältliche Lebens- und Futtermittel insbesondere unter Berücksichtigung von Auswirkungen infolge des Klimawandels. Verminderung des Risikos bei Einführung neuer Lebens- und Futtermittel. Konsumenten haben ein hohes Vertrauen in bestehende und neue Lebens- und Futtermittel aus der Schweiz.

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