Better food traceability methods and tools are crucial for understanding contamination sources in food products and for taking targeted steps to mitigate the damage caused by safety incidents, a new report states.
Titled “Food safety trends across Europe: insights from the 392-million-entry Comprehensive European Food Safety (CHEFS) database,” the report looks at almost 400 million food testing analytical results carried out in a variety of European countries from 2000 to 2024. Those results are part of the Comprehensive European Food Safety (CHEFS) database.
The researchers wrote that by consolidating the European Union’s food monitoring on contaminants data, the industry will be better able to access and analyze the results.
The database covers analysis carried out on more than 4,000 food products to detect the presence of three types of food contaminants: pesticide residues, veterinary medicinal product residues (VMPR), and chemical contaminants.
The "Comprehensive European Food Safety (CHEFS) database" is a collection of official food safety monitoring data gathered by member states for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). It includes more than 392 million analytical results of over 15.2 million samples. The samples were drawn from more than 4,000 different food products.
Out of 392 million analytical results, 97,254 - or 0.025% - were non-compliant.
“To meaningfully connect the CHEFS database to external datasets, it is crucial to have accurate metadata on the origin of food products,” the report states.
The authors continue, “traceability plays a key role here, as it provides detailed information about a product’s journey from farm to fork, enabling more effective risk assessments and enhancing food safety.”
They state that knowing the precise production location and processing details on food products and ingredients “can help identify the source of contamination and enable targeted interventions.”
The report highlighted the food products that were the subject of the most lab analysis results that showed a level of contaminant above the legal limit.
Milk and dairy products had the highest rate of non-compliance for chemical contaminants at 1.83% of all tests. For pesticide residue, “feed” had the most non-conforming tests, 0.05% of the total. For VMPR, cereals and grains had a failure rate of 0.19%
The most common chemical contaminants found at excessive levels were lead, cadmium, and aflatoxin B1. For pesticides, the three most common were Chlorpyrifos, Diazinon, and Pirimiphos-methyl. Doxycycline, Erythromycin, and Danofloxacin were the most common VMPR hazards.
For food manufacturers curious about the origin countries of food products and ingredients, the report lists the countries with the highest failure rates in analytical tests. The test found that Ireland (4.94%) and Italy (4.19%) had the highest rate of non-compliance for chemical contaminants. The nmon-compliance rates were much lower for pesticides, and Bulgaria led the pack with 0.06% of all analyzed samples. For VMPR, Ireland had the top non-compliance rate, at 0.45%.
The use of AI for food safety monitoring and food traceability should have a massive impact on food safety, recall prevention, and mitigation in the years to come. The authors of the report state that the large volume of data in the CHEFS database provides new opportunities for the use of AI in food safety research and policymaking.
“Machine learning and other AI techniques could be used not only for forecasting the future occurrence of food safety hazards, but also for identifying patterns, and optimizing monitoring strategies.”
The authors cite the use of predictive models for aflatoxin and fumonisin in Serbian maize crops as an example of their potential uses. They also note how the use of AI to monitor chemicals can help companies operate more cost-efficiently by highlighting where resources could be reallocated from lower-risk products to higher-risk ones.
“Such applications could enhance the predictive power of food safety monitoring, support more targeted interventions, and ultimately contribute to a more proactive and efficient food safety system,” the authors wrote.
In their conclusion, the authors state that the CHEFS database will contribute to food safety across Europe by providing a foundation for advanced analyses and risk prediction.
“The CHEFS database can serve not only as a centralized source of harmonized monitoring data, but also as a strategic tool for pinpointing priority areas in food safety policy, research, and regulation.”
They added that the database could play a pivotal role in supporting “rapid risk assessments during emerging food safety incidents or crises, by enabling early warning signals based on trends and historical context.”