BIOTRACER, a major project funded by the European Commission with €11 million, received the highest evaluation possible from the two external reviewers during the March review meeting held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The annual review meeting, as required by the European Commission, took place 23-24 March 2009. Along with Work Package leaders from BIOTRACER, the EC Scientific Officer, Ciaran Mangan, Dr. Rohtraud Pichner of the Meat Science Institute in Kulmbach, Germany and Prof. Dr. Roger Stephan of the University of Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland, attended review meeting to evaluate the progress made by the EC-funded research project.

The results of the overall assessment state that ‘the project has fully achieved its objectives and technical goals for the period and has even exceeded expectations'. It was rated as a ‘good to excellent project', the highest rating possible.

The reviewers stated, ‘Following the recommendations of the reviewers of the last year, the work on methodological questions was no more the focus of the project and the sampling in the food chains was started to create field data for close[ly] integration of the modellers into the project. This close[ly] cooperation of modellers and microbiologists is welcome and very important for the next period.'

Regarding the future of BIOTRACER, the reviewers stated, ‘the consortium established a virtual traceability institute, which integrates with other EC-funded traceability projects, brings together the training and dissemination activities of BIOTRACER (within and beyond the project), ensures that these activities are integrated and coordinated and creates sustainability of the project beyond the funding period.'