DEtermination and METrics of Emerging Risks

Project status: Completed
Project start: Apr 2017
Project end: Apr 2020
Acronym: DEMETER
Department: Biologische Sicherheit

Description and Objective

The early identification of emerging risks in the food (and feed) chain is of paramount importance if the European consumer is to be protected through timely and effective preventive measures. lncreased global trade is making food chains more complex, both in terms of geographical spread and the rapid distribution of goods. The increasing complexity of the chain makes it more difficult to oversee and assess all drivers of change for food safety risks in a particular chain. As such, yesterday's emerging issue in one area may be tomorrow's crisis in a different place. Dealing with this complexity requires a high degree of scientific and technical expertise.The use of new data mining and data science solutions (digital technologies) can help to overcome current constraints to enable identification of emerging food safety issues at an early stage so that timely measures can be taken to prevent these becoming a food safety risk. The advantages of digital / data-driven solutions are numerous. The process of emerging risks detection in the European Union must therefore utilise digital technologies and the application of "big data" analysis to identify emerging food safety risks across an increasingly complex and geographically dispersed food webs. The objectives and research proposed in this project proposal are specifically designed to support current (and future) procedures for emerging risks identification by providing a set of integrated, open-source solutions that will allow and EU Member State authorities to share data, knowledge and methods in a rapid and effective manner. This main objective will be achieved by activities carried out in five integrated work packages (WP).

Result

The objectives and research proposed in the DEMETER project were specifically designed to support current (and future) procedures for emerging issue and risks identification by providing a community resource that would allow and EU Member State authorities to share data, data mining knowledge and methods in a rapid and effective manner through a new technical Platform. This has been done by developing a prototype Emerging Risks Knowledge Exchange Platform (ERKEP), based on a Content Management System (CMS) and KNIME Data Analysis Workflows (DAWs). The prototype ERKEP can assist and the EREN members in sharing knowledge more effectively contributing to earlier identification of emerging risks. In particular, the CMS component provides a Platform for sharing data, data mining knowledge and methods in an easy and effective manner. The KNIME infrastructure and DAWs that have been developed within the project provide the ERKEP users with methods to analyse data and develop these methods collaboratively. Finally, advice was provided on how to best integrate expert knowledge into the emerging risks identification framework. In conclusion, the output of the DEMETER project will support to take the next steps in detecting emerging food safety risks.

Type of project	Third-party funded project
Areas of research	Forschung zur Sicherheit nationaler und internationaler Warenketten
Organisational units and partners	Lead unit: Risikosoziologie und Risiko-Nutzen-Beurteilung (22) Contact persons: Dr. Mark Lohmann, Teresa Mylord, Matthias Filter, Lars Valentin Involved BfR partners: Risikokommunikation External partner: RIKILT - Institute of Food Safety, NL, Newcastle Universität, National Food Chain Safety Office
Funding body and grant number	Europäische Behörde für Lebensmittelsicherheit GA/EFSAshort forEuropean Food Safety Authority/AFSCO/2016/01-01

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DEtermination and METrics of Emerging Risks

Description and Objective

Result

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