Biotech Updates

10 Years Integrated Research Delivers for Improved and Safer Food Chain in the EU

June 22, 2012

The European Commission Bioeconomy Action Plan, a ten year result of researches to deliver improved and safer food chain in Europe, has been completed and published. Results were obtained from individual FP6 projects and will be disseminated to the stakeholders. Initially, the results of the project was presented at the "What's for Lunch" forum held in Brussels in late 2011, and later, this has been compiled in an academic textbook titled Food Chain Integrity.

The projects were conceived to address origin and traceability issues as well as safety. The Integrated Project TRACEBACK focus on food origin, and provides information link from product's raw material to its sale. Project TRACE involves the identification and assessment of vulnerabilities in the food chain and will help consumers better know where their food comes from.

Project BIOTRACER identifies the origin of the food as well as pinpointing exactly where contamination happened. And lastly, on genetically modified (GMs) organisms, the Co-Extra Project which specifically deals with "GM and non-GM supply chains: their co-existence and traceability" brought together 52 partner institutions in 18 countries. It specifically covers issues of non-authorized GMs under any jurisdiction as they may have unknown risks to health and environment.

The news release can be viewed at http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=34749.