Das Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung

News

Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in wine

According to measurements by an environmental protection organisation, commercially available wines contain residues of TFA (trifluoroacetic acid).

Animal Protection Research Prize 2025 – Award ceremony on 22 April 2025

Click here for the livestream of the Animal Protection Research Prize award ceremony. The Animal Protection Research Prize of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) will be awarded in two categories this year. The livestream will be active from 11 am.

E-cigarettes: anything but harmless

The term “e-cigarette” is short for “electronic cigarette”. The term “vape”, which is derived from the English word “vaporiser”, is often used synonymously for electronic cigarettes. E-cigarettes contain a liquid that usually contains the highly addictive substance nicotine as well as various flavouring and aromatic substances.

Bf3R Research Funding

Every two years, the German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) awards funds for scientific research projects addressing the 3R principle (Replace, Reduce, Refine). Projects are funded that serve to replace and reduce the use of laboratory animals in areas of medical research or basic biological research, or that aim to identify, classify, and reduce pain, suffering, or harm in laboratory animals and improve husbandry conditions.

Product Notifications and Poisonings

The Institute

The Institute was set up in November 2002 to strengthen consumer health protection. It is the scientific agency of the Federal Republic of Germany which is responsible for preparing expert reports and opinions on food and feed safety as well as on the safety of substances and products.

BfR endeavours to constantly undertake topical assessments of the risks associated with foods - be it from heavy metals, pesticide residues, toxic ingredients or the like (substance risks), be it from bacteria, viruses or fungi (microbial risks) or be it risks from novel technologies in food production (novel foods).

For health assessment the decisive factor is whether and, if so, on what scale consumers come into contact with the substances contained in the products and what health risks these might entail. This requires knowledge about the numerous substances, materials and their processing into various products.

Chemicals are encountered in almost all areas of daily life. That's why stiff requirements must be imposed to ensure the safe handling of chemicals. The proper handling of chemicals may not constitute a risk to the health of man or to the environment.