(RASFF) Annual Report 2009 - European Commission - Europa

Annual Report 2009
When realising in 2009 that it was going to be exactly 30 years ago that the
first RASFF notification was “created”, the RASFF team at DG SANCO thought it
was the perfect occasion for a celebration. And so it was. The idea to organise
a RASFF conference to take stock of what had been achieved in previous years
and to look ahead to the future of RASFF had existed already for a while. Soon
a couple of other ideas emerged: making a special publication about 30 years
RASFF and inviting contacts in countries all over the world to celebrate with us:
the mix was ready to be cooked. It all happened as follows:
Special celebration booklet: “30 years of keeping consumers safe”
Nothing better to commemorate a special date than to make a special
publication around it. This special booklet first introduces the policy and
procedures of RASFF, and then goes on to give an account of the history of
30 years of RASFF, providing some background on various milestones and
technological revolutions that not only reshaped food safety policy in the
EU and society in general, but also boosted the RASFF to its next level. A
recommended read!
Technical meeting on 15 July 2009
The three-day event kicked off with a technical meeting with RASFF members,
contact points and representatives of third countries and WHO discussing the
future of RASFF and other alert systems around the world and how cooperation
between these systems could be enhanced.
At the start of the meeting, the EC RASFF team explained the state of ongoing
activities in RASFF and how it is preparing for the future. It also explained the
work already done and its plans for activities under the Better Training for Safer
Food programme to support countries and world regions outside the EU to set
up their own alert systems inspired by the RASFF.
Following this, two examples of regional networks were presented: in
MERCOSUR and ASEAN. While the ASEAN RASFF is already up and running
with 7 countries participating in the platform, the MERCOSUR RASFF is still in
preparation. The presentation by WHO – INFOSAN brought everything together
on a global scale. A dynamic conclusion to the technical meeting, which showed
that work can be done in parallel at national, regional and global level.
International conference “Keeping An Eye On Your Food”
on 16 July 2009
On 16 July 2009, DG Health & Consumers organised a high-level conference
in which representatives of more than 90 countries participated to learn
more about the role RASFF has played in the turbulent past of food safety in
Europe and to take stock of what plans RASFF has in store for the future. The
different speeches and presentations are available on the RASFF website at
http://ec.europa.eu/rasff
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