Inspections and Samples: risk based versus random – phase 2
04/2024-04/2025
Funding programme / funding institution: Europäische Behörde für Lebensmittelsicherheit (EFSA)
Grant number: GP/EFSA/ENREL/2022/03-SA4
Project description:
In 2023, the two project partners AGES and NWVA analysed existing control plans and conducted a literature review on the availability of methods for combining risk-based and random controls. Although they found well-reasoned control plans that often included both risk-based and random controls, they were unable to identify a standardised method for selecting the respective combination of risk-based and random controls. The literature review found that while there are some methods that can be used for combining risk-based and randomised controls, there is virtually no work on generally applicable methods for selecting the optimal combination. In addition, a number of factors were identified that may influence the choice of control strategy (risk-based, random or a combination) and a framework for the development of such a strategy was proposed. By 2024, AGES and NVWA aim to build on the results of Phase 1 of this project in three ways: 1) extending the approaches developed in Phase 1 to combine control allocation with recovery in a single process; 2) developing practical use cases for the approaches developed in Phase 1 at AGES and NVWA; and 3) sharing the approaches developed in Phase 1 with other Member States through web conferences and support in developing their own use cases. The BfR will contribute one such use case involving samples from official food monitoring.
Project partners:
- AGES - Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit GmbH [Österreich / Wien]
- Netherlands food and consumer product safety authority [Niederlande]