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BfR-Committees
Fifteen scientific expert committees advise the BfR in
questions relating to the safety of food and feed, chemi-
cals and products, nutrition, risk research and risk per-
ception. They consolidate the expertise available in
Germany at the highest scientific level to form an exter-
nal quality assurance system for the assessment of the
performance of the BfR. In this way, they can be called
upon for advice as an established network also in times
of crisis.
The approximately 200 committee members are external,
independent experts who support the work of the BfR
in an advisory capacity and on an honorary basis. They
come from universities and other research institutions,
national and regional authorities, trade and consumer as-
sociations, private laboratories and industry.
The BfR committees each have at least ten members who
elect a chairperson from among their ranks. The BfR sup-
ports the committees by taking over management tasks.
The minutes of the meetings, which reflect the scientific
opinions and recommendations of the committees, are
publicly available on the BfR website. Compared to the
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the BfR commit-
tees are advisory bodies only. By contrast, EFSA's com-
mittee members prepare their own expert reports and
risk assessments.
In 2013, the external appointing panel selected suitable
scientific experts who had applied in the open call for ten-
der earlier. The President of the BfR appointed the mem-
bers for the new term from 2014 to 2017 (by certificate).
The appointing panel is made up of members of the BfR
Scientific Advisory Board, the chairs of the German Re-
search Foundation's Senate Committees for the Health
Assessment of Food and of Substances and Resources
in Agriculture and a representative of the Senate of Fed-
eral Research Agencies. The committees started to work
during the first half of 2014.
Quality management
The quality assurance and quality management of prod-
ucts and processes are not only of importance to indus-
try. Authorities, especially scientific institutes like the BfR,
must also be able to prove today that they work in compli-
ance with internationally recognised standards and that
this is ensured by means of a functional quality manage-
ment system (QMS).
The criteria for quality-assured work activities are laid
down in international standards. The standard DIN EN
ISO/IEC 9001:2008 stipulates how business processes
and responsibilities have to be organised in order to guar-
antee high-quality work and products. The standard DIN
EN ISO/IEC 17025 lays down the rules for the manage-
ment of test and calibration laboratories as well as the
technical requirements. Test laboratories which satisfy the
standard prove having the technical competence and ca-
pability to achieve substantiated results. Since 2010, all
work areas of the BfR – science, assessment, communi-
cation and administration – have been certified in line with
the quality standard DIN EN ISO 9001:2008. The BfR's
scientific laboratories have all been accredited in line with
DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 since as far back as 2003.
The two quality official certificates have to be renewed
regularly, certification every three years, accreditation
every five years. So-called monitoring audits are con-
ducted in the interjacent years. Quality-assured opera-
tions in compliance with DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 were last
confirmed by the independent TÜV Nord Cert GmbH in
May 2014. Compliance with the standard DIN EN ISO/
IEC 17025:2005 by the scientific laboratories was most
recently assessed one month previously, in April 2014, by
the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH (DAkkS).
BfR Vice-President Prof. Dr. Reiner Wittkowski (l.) receives
the “TÜV Nord Cert GmbH” certificate in recognition of the
quality-assured working practices and facilities at the BfR.
About the BfR
