Improved biotraceability of unintended micro-organisms and their substances in food and feed chains

BIOTRACER is an Integrated Project within the European Union 6th Framework Programme under the European Research area of Food Quality and Safety. BIOTRACER has 46 project partners from 24 countries (including four INCO countries). The project started 1 January 2007, and will close 31 December 2010. The project is supported with €11 million from the European Commission, but has a total budget of €15 million.

The objective of BIOTRACER is to create tools and models for the improvement of tracing accidental and deliberate microbial contamination of feed and food, including bottled water.

The organisational structure of BIOTRACER is shown below.

BIOTRACER, as a project, is organised into five Research Areas and an Industry, Training and Dissemination (ITD) Area, which includes demonstration and training activities. The five Research Areas are divided into four vertical and one horizontal activities. The four vertical Research Areas (RA2 - RA5)  are related to a speicifc food or feed chain, whereas the horizontal Research Area (RA1) is represented in all selected food and feed chains.

The work is further divided into Work Packages, each with a dedicated leader. The tasks within each Work Package integrate the different Research Areas.