BUNDESINSTITUT FÜR RISIKOBEWERTUNG

BUNDESINSTITUT FÜR RISIKOBEWERTUNG - Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR, www.bfr.bund.de) - Berlin, Germany.

The BfR is a German state-owned scientific institution, which was established as an agency under public law during a reform in 2002 in order to strengthen consumer health protection and clearly separate risk assessment and risk communication from risk management. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is a scientifically oriented and independent superior federal authority responsible to the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. It is independent in its scientific assessments and research. The main focus of the work of BfR is on the assessment of risks in the field of consumer health protection and food and feed safety for man. On the basis of internationally recognised, scientific assessment criteria BfR prepares expert reports and opinions on the safety of foods, substances and products. BfR.s work is characterised by its scientific, research-based approach. The BfR is certified in accordance of DIN EN ISO 9001 for all business processes and competences including risk assessment. Based on its health assessments, the Institute draws up management options for risk reduction and advises the competent federal ministries and other risk management agencies. Public authorities responsible for risk management can draw on the Institute.s health risk assessments and management options. Results and recommendations of the BfR are an important decision making aid for measures by all involved parties. The Institute does this work in different contexts:
• incident-related (e.g. in the case of microbiological or chemical contamination)
• on the basis of a long-term work plan of systematic assessment
• within the framework of public authority procedures
• in conjunction with new findings or concepts which highlight the need for assessment.

The provision of information on possible, identified and assessed risks, which foods, substances and products may entail for consumers, is a statutory task of BfR is. BfR seeks to present the entire assessment process in a transparent manner to the public at large. By means of comprehensive, complete and easily understandable risk communication BfR renders science visible to and beneficial for consumers.

BfR has its own substantial laboratory capacities. 17 reference laboratories in the field of food safety and food hygiene are attached to BfR, dividing into two groups:
• National Reference Laboratories pursuant to Regulation (EC) 882/2004
• Other BfR laboratories with a reference function
All laboratories of BfR are accredited in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025.
BfR contributes to a great extent to the elaboration of legislative measures concerning the protection of consumer health. It is involved in the preparatory work for legal provisions and in their implementation.
BfR.s risk assessment according to internationally acknowledged scientific standards provi-des an important stimulus for consumer health protection both inside and outside Germany.
The BfR is divided in 9 different departments and has more than 700 employees with a broad range of scientific expertise (food chemistry, chemistry, veterinary medicine, medicine, public health, toxicology).

For the pursuit of its statutory tasks BfR.s current budget amounts to 60 million Euro. BfR manages its own research funds for subjects closely linked to its assessment tasks. More than 6 million Euro are earmarked for research. This includes around 1.6 million Euro for carrying out third-party contracts and around 3.0 million Euro from public external sources. BfR engages in scientific cooperation with international institutions, organisations and with the institutions of other countries involved in consumer health protection and food safety. BfR is the national contact point of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). BfR acquires third-party funded research projects on the national and international level. Currently, the institute carries out more than 50 different third-party funded projects supported by the EC, the EFSA, the German Research Foundation and different German Federal Ministries.


This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 692131.