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The SiLeBAT project shows
how food safety can be
further improved in the
age of global flows of goods
through the cooperation of
all involved parties.
Food Safety
concepts for effective information exchange in case of
crisis situations. Among other things, the BfR has devel-
oped special software for evaluating food supply chains
as well as a product protection checklist for feed or food
business that will help them prevent any deliberate con-
tamination of their products (see boxes below).
The SiLeBAT project shows how food safety in the age
of global flows of goods can be further improved by all
parties involved cooperating with each other. One central
conclusion is that scientific analyses, technologies and
action plans must be continually adapted to the changing
general conditions.
Visualisation of the frozen strawberry goods chain in the
norovirus epidemic of 2012 using the BfR “FoodChain
Lab” software. The institutions included in the outbreak
data are shown here as red dots. The lines represent
goods deliveries that contained frozen strawberries.
Example 2: Product protection checklist
The product protection checklist may help to reduce
the probability of future bio or agro terrorist attacks.
The checklist consists of a catalogue of questions
in the form of an Excel file that asks, for example,
whether access points to production facilities in feed
and food plants are secure and whether employ-
ees are trained to spot suspicious activities or
unauthorised persons. It is therefore possible
to identify non-secure areas where products
could be contaminated. It also lists steps
that make production facilities and process-
es more secure. Companies are thereby
provided with support in estimating the
security of their own facilities and processes,
in identifying existing weaknesses and in taking
protective measures. Small and medium-sized
companies in particular are interested in the check-
list, since their financial means and staffing levels are
generally insufficient for the development of these
kinds of analysis.
Example 1: “FoodChain Lab” Software
For the risk assessment of damage scenarios, it is
important to be able to evaluate specialised infor-
mation quickly and correctly. The “FoodChain Lab”
software developed by the BfR can provide an im-
portant contribution here. For example it is possible
with this software to make interactive evaluations of
the relevant data from food tracing in case of a
crisis and to graphically depict the food sup-
ply chains. The BfR has already used the
software in the resolution of several food-
related outbreaks of illness. For example,
in the investigation into the norovirus epi-
demic in the autumn of 2012, “FoodChain
Lab” helped to identify the epidemiological
correlation between deep-frozen strawberries
imported from China and the observed pattern of
the outbreak (see illustration).
Importer + customers
Kitchens +
kindergartens
