ALIMENTA - Agrifood and Health Protection: Managing Risks in Small and Medium-sized food Enterprises in Modena

The research project focuses on improving food safety in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), which, due to a lack of prevention culture, insufficient staff skills and high management costs, are the most exposed to errors in internal self-regulation procedures. To do this, in light of the high number of crimes against health and safety detected in recent years in our country by law enforcement agencies, (intentional and negligent) food crimes prevention tools along the entire supply chain will be analysed using some agricultural and industrial enterprises operating in the province of Modena as a model. In light of their high/medium microbiological and chemical-physical risk, companies operating in the production and processing of beef and swine meat, balsamic vinegar, dairy, fruit and vegetables will be considered. The critical aspects of the protocols used in agri-food safety will be checked, and the problems and needs of the companies will be collected, analysed and resolved. Initially, the focus will be on the study of the complex European and national regulations governing the effects of erroneous self-regulation on food safety, including through a comparative study, and of self-regulatory systems. Then, a “Centro di Ricerca Interdipartimentale sulla Sicurezza Agroalimentare (CRISA)” will be founded, with which the team will present itself to companies in the Modena area. This research centre will also be established to function as a collector of the research carried out and the practical experiences of companies, and will also function as a large database on legislation and case-law and as a venue for disseminating scientific advances. Then, we will move from theory to practice, involving agri-food SMEs. A monitoring of the food safety situation within companies will be carried out by means of a questionnaire with key- questions, aimed at identifying the main causes and risk factors, as well as possible problems in the application of the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) system. Companies struggle to comply with the self-control guidelines required by law. Through the questionnaire, the focus group and direct meetings, therefore, the actual maintenance and practical application of risk management models and the internal validity of the preventive approach to food safety will be assessed. The integrated approach to the analysis of food safety - legal, scientific and economic - will improve and implement the private standardisation in use. The processing of the collected data and discussions with companies and industry associations should lead to effective models for ensuring food safety throughout the supply chain. The expected outcome of the research is to lay the foundations for an updated Food Safety Management System (FSMS) that can be effectively adopted by enterprises.