RASFF: what is the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed and how does it work?

The Rapid Alert System for Foodstuffs and Feed (RASFF) is a system that allows national food and feed control authorities in the European Union to exchange information with all Eurozone countries.

   

This tool, which depends on the European CommissionThe new programme, which facilitates the 32 member states of the RASFF system the exchange of information on the measures taken by the food authorities of each of its members. And to act jointly when a risk to consumers is detected.

 

The RASFF Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed Products is an integral part of the Alert and Cooperation Network -a network of rapid alerts on the food sector, which also includes the Administrative Assistance and Cooperation (AAC) and the Food Fraud Network (FFN)- and contributes, year after year, to improving the safety of EU consumersThe Commission has also adopted a Communication on the use of the EU food and animal feedstuffs for both human consumption and animal feed.

 

Working in parallel with the Rapex system -the Non-Food Rapid Alert Systemwhere safety notifications related to other sectors, such as cosmetics, are published -, the Alert and Cooperation Network of the European Commission publishes an Annual Report, the result of the work of the 3 food alert networks, in which we will find all the official data about food security for the EU as a whole. 

RASFF: an introduction to the Rapid Alert Network for Food and Feed Products

The RASFF system The Food Safety Information Exchange System has been in operation for more than four decades. Should we be surprised? The food security has a huge impact on the health protection of EU citizens. And it is undeniable that there is an enormous interest, both on the part of the public and on the part of the national and EU authorities, in ensuring that the food consumed at our borders is safeThe Commission is currently working on the development of a new EU-wide strategy for the use of the EU's food and feed chain, both for human food and animal feed.

It is therefore only natural that a complex control system has been put in place to ensure the safety of food and feed products consumed within the euro area. The European Commission argues that it is necessary to regulate the animal feed and food safety and regularly monitor compliance with the Community legislation that has been established for the sector.

To this end, it has created the Alert and Cooperation Networkd, endowed de 3 different tools aimed at ensuring that each of the competent national authorities of the 32 members of the EU RASFF system - share information with each other:

• the Rapid Alert Network for Food and Feed Productsknown by its acronym RASFF (Rapid Alert System Feed and Food).
• the Administrative Assistance and Cooperation Network (AAC)
• the Food Fraud Network (FFN)

With a population increasingly concerned with self-care and more aware of the benefits of health promotion, the food security is and should be one of the main concerns of the European Commission in relation to its citizens. In order to be transparent on food safety, the authorities of each country must regularly report on the measures they are developing to ensure food safety.

Rapid Alert for Food and Feed: The i-RASFF and RASFF Window Applications

It goes without saying that the national authorities responsible for food safety are obliged to report irregularities detected on national soil to the other competent authorities in the euro area. This has been done through the RASFF system for more than 40 years. Although the format used by RASFF for its alerts has evolved over time, today, the notifications of Rapid Alert for Food and Feed Products are published regularly through the software applications i-RASFF y RASFF WINDOW.

Access to these two applications is restricted to their members. And their members are restricted to a very defined group. 

They are now considered members, and therefore have the right to access the data of these rapid alert food services:  

• All EU Member States
• the EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and the EFTA Secretariat, which coordinates the information transmitted by the EEA countries;
• the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA); and
• the European Commission, as manager of the system;
• Following an agreement that entered into force on 1 January 2009, Switzerland is a partial member of the system as regards border rejections of products of animal origin. 

Through these applicationsthe Commission ensures that all food risk notifications detected by a national authority reach all members of the RASFF system in an easy and efficient way. And the data collected through these two applications, managed by the European Commission's Early Warning and Cooperation Network, are used to publish the annual Alerts and Co-operation Network Annual ReportThe EU's Food Safety Report, a comprehensive study including all official EU food safety data, is available in English, French and Spanish.