Food safety

Today the production of food and its processing and trade extends across a food chain whose individual links are international. The aim is not just to survey for instance the general degree of supply and the changes in the production, processing and trade structures, but also to highlight food safety risks, using statistical analyses and structured documentation in particular.

The issue of food safety has been an integral part of EUROSTAT’s annual work programme since 2002. Co-operation between EUROSTAT, the Commission’s individual Directorates General (in particular DG Health and Consumer Protection and DG AGRI) and their European agencies and organisations (e.g. EFSA, ECDC, etc.) in the area of food safety intensified with the founding of the Food Safety Statistics working group.

Due to their differing legal basis, the individual member states are called upon to report a variety of data on the food chain and food safety to the Commission and its agencies. Until now the data was not combined and concentrated centrally, which is why the objective of the Food Safety Statistics working group is to collate all the relevant data – i.e. food safety data – in a database designed specifically for that purpose. Rather than record new data, the working group is to make use of existing data first and foremost.

A wide array of food safety trends can quickly be recorded and identified in the database using cross-analysis methods.

The EUROSTAT database “Food: From Farm to Fork Statistics” has been up and running since June 2005 and is accessible to the general public. Its structure is as follows:

• Food consumption
• From production to distribution
• Inputs to the food chain
• Actors involved in the food chain

Moreover, work is currently in progress on a database which will only be accessible to a restricted circle of users. This database contains information on official investigations and checks in the individual member states along the food chain, e.g.:

• Pesticide residue monitoring
• Zoonosis and TSE monitoring
• Official food and feed inspections

The following publications on the subject of food safety can be found on the Eurostat homepage:

• "Different organic farming patterns within EU-25" (overview of the statistics, issue number 69/2007)
• “Food: From farm to fork statistics” (Edition 2008)
• “Main stages of the meat food chain in Europe” (April 2006)
• “Organic farming in Europe” (overview of the statistics, issue number 31/2005)