03
Foreword
Another milestone was the approval of the national Total Diet Study, for
which – divided up over several years – a total in excess of ten million
euros have been provided. The levels of nutrients, additives, process
contaminants and other ingredients in foods prepared in the kitchen are
to be determined in the project. The goal is to examine 90 percent of
the foods consumed by the general population. Through the study, data
on changes to the composition and formation of new substances in the
preparation of foods will be acquired – data, which has hardly existed
up to now. As the third project, the EU research project “SPICED”, which
has the goal of protecting the European supply chain for spices and
herbs against biological and chemical contamination – be it intentional,
accidental or natural – is mentioned here as an example of many others.
The BfR coordinates an international consortium of 15 partners from
seven countries in this project.
A personnel requirements survey was started at the BfR in February
2014 by an external consulting company. This measure has the goal
of formulating recommendations on personnel requirements, as well as
the growth of the BfR's scientific potential and general performance ca-
pability. The requirements, and therefore the scope of tasks too, have
increased since the BfR was founded and its organisation has also be-
come increasingly more complex. For this reason, it was time to examine
whether the BfR is suitably staffed.
Once you have leafed through and read this annual report, we would
like to draw your attention to the BfR website. The BfR's “business” is
a fast-moving one, because situations can arise within a few days, and
sometimes within only a few hours, where the institute has to respond
to inquiries. To do so, it makes increasing use of digital communication
channels, such as mobile apps, YouTube and Twitter in addition to its
classical website.
This brief overview may be sufficient to establish that the work per-
formed in 2014, extracts of which are contained in the following chap-
ters, forms a solid foundation for the next year. The incentive for 2015
is a promise: the BfR will become even better, because a truism of sci-
ence is that satisfaction can only be achieved by growing beyond that
which has already been achieved. The BfR management is aware that
to do so requires a high level of commitment from all staff members
on which the Institute can rely. Our sincere thanks are due here to all
employees.
Prof. Dr. Reiner Wittkowski,
Vice-President
>>
A truism of science is:
Satisfaction can only
be achieved by
growing beyond that
which has already
been achieved.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel,
President
