Regaining trust in the European food supply chain
The increasing frequency of food emergencies and evolving food safety standards in the European landscape over recent years have shaken consumer confidence in the food quality testing infrastructure. Unpredictable accidents, speculative technological management and climatic adversities have deeply affected market stability and product supply. To get the European agro-food supply chain more organised and gain back people’s trust, the EU funded the project ‘Electronic platform technologies for the European agri-food supply chain’ (E-MENSA) was initiated.The main aim of the project was to generate an innovative infrastructure based on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the food supply chain. As a first step, the consortium undertook preliminary studies acquiring technological, economic and organisational elements that could be useful in the project. Project partners established a network of stakeholders and developed a small and medium-sized enterprise chain (SMEC) model based on the need to have a common strategy amongst food supply chain players. This network would also link all research teams in the field and help them formulate appropriate future research initiatives thereby contributing to the strategic objectives of the European Research Area (ERA). development of an electronic platform that would facilitate integrated food supply chain management and strategies across Europe was initially proposed. To evaluate the benefits and costs of supply chain e-platforms and how they could contribute to higher quality and safety foods, discussion platforms among stakeholders and experts were set up. These resulted in the identification and evaluation of various technological approaches that could be implemented. the E-MENSA project succeeded in developing a European technology food supply platform for the continuous exchange of knowledge among academia, industry and consumers. Dissemination of the benefits of this platform for consumers and businesses will increase stakeholder involvement and over the long-term have a positive impact on food quality and safety.
