“Food safety projects” clustering workshop

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September 10th 2025 | Food Safety Projects Clustering Workshop

 

MEETING AIMS:

Ensuring food safety throughout the food chain in the context of food systems is crucial. The EU has one of the world’s safest food legislations assuring a high level of food safety, animal health and welfare, and plant health. The foundation for this is the General Food Law and related legislation. Moreover, the EFSA, which is responsible for risk assessment, scientific advice and support, is also constantly developing its methodologies for the risk assessment of new technologies and potentially emerging hazards in the food system.

The EC framework programmes Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe have funded several research and innovation projects on food safety, under the R&I policy framework Food 2030 pathway “Food Safety systems of the Future”. One of these is the HOLiFOOD project.

On 10th September 2025, a thematic workshop was organized with project coordinators of Horizon Europe funded projects on food safety, with the aim to exchange knowledge about project results and possible new research and innovation (R&I) needs. Another goal was for the coordinators to get to know each other, and to increase the collaboration and synergies among the projects.

The meeting was organised and hosted by Unit B2 (Bioeconomy and Food System) in DG RTD, responsible of the Food 2030 Research and Innovation policy framework and the projects funded under this pathway. It was a successful meeting with fruitful exchange and interaction.

During the meeting, each project coordinator presented the summary of the respective project and R&I needs from the project. HOLiFOOD was presented by the project coordinator. R&I needs brought to the table from the HOLiFOOD perspective were, amongst others, the need for:

  1. Data availability: Invest in data collection, exchange of data, and interoperable platforms for regulators, science and industry.
  2. Strengthening risk-based and predictive approaches: Invest in AI-driven risk prediction models that integrate environmental, supply chain, and laboratory data, and in integrated platforms.
  3. Supporting regulators with harmonised data tools: Ensure that outcomes from projects like HOLiFOOD are systematically shared with regulatory working groups to support the update of food safety and food fraud-related regulations, aligning policy with scientific advancements.
  4. Encourage co-creation with stakeholders to ensure research outputs are aligned with operational, policy, and market needs.
  5. Support Living Labs and pilot programs that test and validate innovations in real-world food production and retail environments, accelerating adoption and impact.