Knowledge development

The government sets out standards for safe food products and for safely producing foods. One of the policy goals of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation is to maintain the present high level of food safety in the Netherlands. This is important from a public health perspective, for maintaining consumer confidence, and for the export position of the Dutch agricultural and foodstuffs sector.

New risks
Ongoing efforts to further develop our knowledge in these areas are therefore needed. For example, RIKILT is searching for methods which can identify several new risk factors which are coming to the fore.

A contemporary and politically contentious issue in this regard is the increase in the number of authorised and non-authorised uses of GMOs in various ingredients and raw materials and the marketing of products from cloned animals. The accelerated development of nanotechnological applications for the production of foodstuffs, for food products and for packaging materials is also relevant in this regard.

RIKILT is expanding its knowledge base to investigate the possible risks which may be involved in these applications.
However, it is also necessary to further develop our knowledge of better-known risks such as resistance to antibiotics and the presence of natural toxins in the food chain.

RIKILT also invests a great deal of energy in these areas. In particular, the acquisition of knowledge aimed at realising a better and more efficient identification and control of risks in the food chain is an important focus of attention for RIKILT.