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Global Platform on EMERGING RISK in the Food and Feed chain

Final Report Summary - GO-GLOBAL (Global Platform on EMERGING RISK in the Food and Feed chain)

As consumers, we should all be concerned about the safety of the food on our plates. Food safety is also a major priority for those working within food production systems, and substantial resources have been invested by governments around the world in national and regional initiatives (e.g. research, regulation) to improve food safety standards, to identify emerging food safety risks and to allow pro-active intervention (e.g. RASFF, INFOSAN-WHO). Historically, however, there has been no global system in place to support the coordinated exchange of information. Information about relevant research findings and risk management activities is fragmented, and is not often shared between countries.

In December 2006, in response to these issues, the GO-GLOBAL project was set up, its aim being to develop a global platform to set the food safety research agenda, to stimulate discussion and to share results on emerging food safety issues. This 2.8 year project, funded through Sixth Framework Programme, brings together key international stakeholders from academia, governments and industries involved in emerging food safety risks for the first time. GO-GLOBAL is an international forum for exchange of information and opinions on emerging risks in the food and feed chain. A total of 15 countries around the world are represented via 8 'core partners' and 14 'platform members' - forming a global network of researchers, research organisations and research-subsidising organisations. Tried and tested methods were used to identify problems and gaps in knowledge, resulting in generation of outputs invaluable to research managers and interested stakeholders worldwide. The outputs will aid in the creation of a global early warning system, and will therefore contribute to international confidence in food safety, consumer protection and international trade.

The GO-GLOBAL project brought together a unique team of food safety experts from all parts of the world, with professional backgrounds in academia, governments, NGOs and industry. The eight 'core partner' organisations are responsible for the various activities performed. The core partners were selected for their immense experience in coordinating international programmes, their ability to organise parallel networks within their country / region and their experience in handling complex and sensitive information on international boards. The remaining 14 'platform members', who provided support to the core group, were selected for their excellent access to national and / or regional programmes on emerging food safety risk and their knowledge about food safety problems in general.

Further details about the partners and platform members are available at the GO-GLOBAL website http://www.goglobalnetwork.eu. The website contains a publicly accessible part and a password protected area allowing easy exchange of information and documents between project members. The public part of the website is frequently updated and contains project information, useful links to other initiatives, recent publications on emerging food safety risks, and all lectures of the GO-GLOBAL open seminars which were organized in Bangkok (November 2007), New Delhi (November 2008), and Accra (April 2009).

The website is frequently visited (420 page views / month) with visitors coming from 82 different countries. The password protected member area contains many special functionalities such as survey and discussion tools, email facilities, and possibility to create personal alerts. All reports produced within GO-GLOBAL are available.

What makes this portal unique is that, instead of providing only hard links to documents or homepages of relevant sites, the portal provides the user with an additional description of the information and a guiding instruction on where exactly to find it on the resulting website.

In the course of the GO-GLOBAL project (1 December 2006 to 31 May 2009) open seminars were organised in Bangkok (November 2007), New Delhi (November 2008), and Accra (April 2009). These events drew much attention and were attended by 120-220 interested stakeholders from academia, industry, food safety authorities and government. Emerging food safety risks and means to predict and prevent new incidents were addressed by eminent speakers from various backgrounds and perspectives. The lectures have been posted on the GO-GLOBAL website. In addition, special seminar DVD's have been prepared (400 in total) and distributed to interested parties.

To inform stakeholders about the GO-GLOBAL initiative a two page hand-out has been developed and translated into four languages (English, Spanish, Turkish and Russian). These hand-outs are available as PDF on the GO-GLOBAL website and printed versions have been distrusted in many different workshops and events.

The GO-GLOBAL project has developed the following unique products:
1. database with funders and projects on food safety;
2. access to opinion database to monitor future changes;
3. methodologies for data collection;
4. comprehensive database with food safety experts with global coverage (120 countries);
5. design of a unique global food safety portal;
6. network of networks.