BfR
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Annual Report 2014
14
Internationalisation
Nowadays, food safety can only be assured by means
of a global approach. Bilateral cooperation with govern-
ment ministries and partner authorities on all continents
therefore constitutes an important aspect of the work of
the BfR. The supervisory authority, the Federal Ministry
of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) also puts an emphasis
on further strengthening cooperation of this kind. For this
reason, the BfR is involved in the ministry's “International
Research” work group. The purpose of international co-
operation is to convey and transfer knowledge of food and
product safety to the mutual benefit of both partner coun-
tries. The takeover and application of established methods
and procedures in other countries ultimately benefits con-
sumers and businesses throughout Europe too.
The BfR maintains close contacts with institutions in differ-
ent countries of the world through such means as mutual
visits, joint symposiums, the exchange of information and
scientists and through their training at the BfR Summer
Academy. The cooperation with most of these institutions
has already been placed on a firm, long-term footing by
means of appropriate contracts. New contacts develop
from these relationships through inquiries from these
countries to the BfR on the one hand and through the
activities of the BfR on the other. The Institute conducts
anticipatory research in the field of the early recognition
of risks in order to identify ensuing and future hazards in
a timely manner.
The BfR's close ties with its sister authorities in France
(ANSES) and Denmark (DTU) played a special role in
2014. Within this set-up, for example, advances were
made in the exchange of PhD candidates. A second area
of main activity was China, to which several BfR delega-
tions travelled in 2014 to explain the work of the Institute.
Collaboration was established with Estonia, Uruguay,
Bulgaria and Montenegro, and discussions on biological
hazards, their assessment and prevention were held with
institutions of the departments of Health and Homeland
Security in the USA.
Existing cooperations with:
Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil,
Bulgaria, Chile, China, Croatia,
Cyprus, Denmark, France,
Germany (various national
institutions), Hungary, Iceland,
India, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania,
Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland,
Russia, Switzerland, Thailand,
Uruguay, Vietnam
Cooperation contracts in
preparation:
Canada, Estonia, Finland, Mexico, Singapore, USA
Food safety is globalised – Cooperations of the BfR
Cooperation (without contracts) with:
EFSA (Focal Point), all EU countries, Argentina, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia,
Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mali, Mongolia,
New Zealand, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan,
Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine
