New EU AI tool aims to transform food safety
Várhelyi hails a new AI-driven system to detect food fraud and safety risks as a ‘breakthrough’
The European Commission has unveiled an AI platform designed to accelerate the detection of food fraud, contaminated products and foodborne disease outbreaks across the EU.
The system, called TraceMap, is intended to help national authorities identify risks sooner, co-ordinate investigations more effectively and remove unsafe products from the market with greater speed.
Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi described the platform as a step change in crisis preparedness. “TraceMap is a breakthrough which will revolutionise the EU’s capacity to react to food safety crises and to clamp down on food fraud. [...]. This is critical infrastructure for crisis prevention and control and should help boost all stakeholders’ confidence in our robust food safety systems.”
A pilot version of the platform has already been used in a real-world case, supporting authorities in identifying and recalling infant milk ingredients made with ARA oil contaminated with cereulide from China, an early demonstration of the system’s practical value.
Catherine Feore
TraceMap applies AI to streamline risk assessments by rapidly structuring and analysing large volumes of data. It can quickly identify links between operators and consignments and, once a threat is detected, monitor the full supply chain to enable faster recalls of unsafe or fraudulent goods.
Officials say it improves screening accuracy, speeds up the identification of suspicious operators and helps investigators to target more accurately.
The technology integrates information from existing EU management platforms, including the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES).