Working together PERIAPT’s founding partners are all actively involved in the manage-ment of national research programmes on emer-ging food safety risks. But none on its own can hope to cover all aspects of this new, complex and multidisciplinary field. Working together offers each partner the chance to access a broader range of specialist exper-tise, to avoid unneces-sary duplication and to achieve the critical mass necessary to tackle certain challenges effectively.

"Emerging Risks in feed and food supply chain"

Action is urgently needed to rebuild public confidence in Europe’s food production system, and in the institutions and scientists responsible for ensuring its safety, after a series of recent ‘scares’. The Commission has established a new European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in the framework of the 2002 EU General Food Law. However, there is a growing need not just to monitor known risks, but to identify, assess and manage emerging ones.

A number of Member States have launched research programmes in this area, but lack the coordination and critical mass to tackle its complex problems effectively. PERIAPT begins the process of pan-European coordination which will be needed if scarce resourcesare to be deployed to maximum effect in an area of increasing economic and social importance.

Summary PERIAPT is a preparatory action, undertaken as a Specific support action within the ERA-NET scheme (ERA stands for European Research Area). Involving senior research programme managers from the ministries and food authorities of an initial group of five Member States, it has established for the first time a forum for the interchange of information and expertise in the field of food safety risk identification. The initial group is expected to grow as additional partners are identified, and will eventually submit a joint proposal for a full follow-up ERA-NET project. PERIAPT aims to define measures to improve the proactive identification of emerging risks as key tools for national ministries and food authorities and for the EFSA. It will take the first practical steps towards the mutual opening of national research resources through joint research and training activities and shared use of databases. Based on an inventory of existing research activities and an analysis of prominent gaps and weaknesses, it will develop an action plan for achieving a pan-European strategy for research in this field. This will be subjected to peer review at a major conference involving policy-makers, experts and stakeholder groups. The resulting programme of action will form the basis of the proposal for a subsequent ERA-NET.

Follow-up Although it is concerned with the field’s broad policy objectives, and not with specific scientific projects or goals, PERIAPT will nevertheless immediately add value to ongoing national research by progressively coordinating it within a coherent strategic plan. In the longer term, the anticipated follow-up ERA-NET network aims to implement a full transnational research programme. Each country’s participation might be funded nationally, or the partners may establish a common fund to finance projects selected on the basis of joint calls for proposals. As a first step towards a system capable of providing better, more responsive and, above all, forward-looking advice to national and European food safety agencies, PERIAPT promises to renew Europe’s confidence in its world-beating food industry.