The SAFFI project: Fostering alignment and collaboration in EU-China food safety management with infant food safety as case study

作者：Gaud Dervilly, Harrie Besselink, Sara Bover, Jianbo Hou, Kalliopi Rantsiou, Min Yue, M.H. Zwietering, Erwan Engel · 发表于：Food Research International · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.foodres.2025.116600 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Food Safety and Hygiene、Identification and Quantification in Food、Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology

Ensuring food safety is a shared priority for both the European Union (EU) and China, yet differences in regulatory frameworks, enforcement mechanisms, and risk assessment approaches present challenges for harmonization. The SAFFI project (2020-2024), which concluded recently, seeked to bridge these gaps by fostering collaboration in food safety management, with a specific focus on infant food safety. Bringing together partners from several EU member states and Chinese provinces, SAFFI aimed to improve hazard identification, risk ranking, detection methods, and mitigation strategies for both microbial and chemical contaminants in infant food supply chains. This article first provides a comparative analysis of EU and Chinese food safety regulations, highlighting key similarities and differences in legal structures, risk assessment procedures, and enforcement strategies. Infant food safety standards are particularly strict in both regions, yet inconsistencies in testing methods, contaminant limits, and monitoring approaches necessitate greater alignment. The second part of the article details the scientific advances achieved through SAFFI to support regulatory convergence. These include structured databases and decision-support tools for hazard identification and prioritization, improved processing and preservation techniques for contaminant control, and cutting-edge analytical methods for detecting and monitoring known and emerging chemical and microbial hazards. The project a...