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Unit Prevention and Investigation of Foodborne Outbreaks

Bacteria, viruses or parasites in food can cause disease which may prove fatal under certain circumstances. Furthermore, they are the cause of economic losses for food production and the food industry.

In order to guarantee the safety of foods and take targeted control measures, these microbial risks must be identified and assessed along the entire food production chain, i.e. from food and primary production down to the sale of foods to the consumer.

Establishing the causes of outbreaks of foodborne infections and intoxications is an important area of work as it supplies detailed information on the pathogens involved, the food carriers and the contributory factors to contamination during food production and processing.

The main task of the Unit is participation in investigating the causes of foodborne disease outbreaks and recording data gathered during this work. The statutory foundations for this are laid down in § 2 of the BfR Act, § 4 of the Protection Against Infection Act (IfSG) and the basic Food Regulation (EC) 178/2002, the Zoonosis Monitoring Directive (EC) No. 2003/99/EC and the Zoonosis Control Regulation (EC) No. 2160/2003/EC.

Main areas of work:

• Management of a nationwide system for the central recording of foods involved in disease outbreaks and support for the data collection of the public agencies responsible for food control
• Co-ordination of BfR tasks in supraregional outbreaks of foodborne disease
• Technical advice for official food control in conjunction with disease outbreaks
• Participation in the microbiological risk assessment of the foods and pathogens involved in the outbreaks
• Inspection of food businesses and animal stocks within the framework of outbreak investigation
• Participation in national and international bodies involved in food safety

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