Food safety is a top priority for the European Commission. The primary objective is to ensure a high level of health protection through safe products in the food industry - Europe's largest production and employment sector.

The FOODSAFETY4EU project, funded by the EU under Horizon 2020, which started on 1 January 2021 under the leadership of the Italian partner CNR (CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE; CNR; National Research Council of Italy) and coordinated by Dr Veronica Lattanzio (CNR) and Dr Nunzia Cito (CNR) with a 3-year duration, brings together 23 institutions from 12 countries, which are supported by 44 other actors from the food safety sector (see below).

FOODSAFETY4EU has set itself the goal of designing and realising a multi-stakeholder platform for the future European Food Safety System (FSS). With the help of the platform, a network of FSS stakeholders at national, European and international level is to be established and a needs-based information portal for food safety authorities, EU agencies, political decision-makers, researchers and the public is to be created.

The FOODSAFETY4EU platform should enable more efficient access to resources and data, the synchronisation of research strategies on food safety, the coordinated exchange of scientific findings and more transparent communication. In addition, the joint development of strategies and their implementation in political measures and funding programmes will be initiated.

Another overarching goal of FOODSAFETY4EU is to support the work of the European Food Safety Authority ( EFSA ) in the area of risk assessment and communication, with the long-term aim of establishing a new EU Knowledge Centre for Food Safety and the first European Food Safety Forum as a communication interface.

Within the FOODSAFETY4EU project, the TUM Chair of Analytical Food Chemistry is responsible for the management of work package no. 4 ⎯ "Definition of the research and innovation framework for future food safety policy".

The work package focuses on analysing future requirements for European research programmes and funding opportunities in order to develop a strategic research and innovation agenda with a focus on food safety. In this context, innovation laboratories (so-called Food Safety Operational Labs; FSOLabs) will also be used, in which selected topics & ideas on food safety will be tested in the field as pilot trials and co-conceptualised and expertly accompanied by the Chair of Analytical Food Chemistry.

The 23 FOODSAFETY4EU project partners together with the 44 supporting partners are shown on the following map of Europe.