safefood has a general legislative remit to carry out food safety research including:

• Identifying priorities for research
• Commissioning and funding research projects as necessary to fill identified gaps
• Establishing and maintaining a database of research programmes and monitoring progress
• Disseminating research findings to relevant interests
• Recommending action arising from research findings
• Maintaining links with international research bodies.

safefood does not consider this function in isolation, but as an integral component of safefood's primary function to 'bring about general acceptance that responsibility for the provision of safe food is shared among producers, processors, distributors at all levels, caterers and the general public'. To this effect safefood considers the entire food chain in its consideration of research and ensures that our research programme is linked to and supports our primary function. Promotion of food safety is targeted at the whole food chain and as a consequence, so is our research.

Against this backdrop, safefood has been charged with the role of providing consumers and those responsible for the provision of safe food with the best, most up to date knowledge in relation to food safety, nutrition and diet. safefood recognises that the information it provides must be well–informed and of considerable quality. The science that uncovers emerging risks and hazards must be at hand for safefood to ensure that we can offer the very best advice to consumers, government policy makers and those entrusted with the production of food.

Research projects funded to date can be categorised broadly into the following subject areas:

• Chemistry and Toxicology
• Food Hygiene
• Food Safety Knowledge and Communication
• Microbiology
• Nutrition
• Surveillance

safefood in collaboration with RELAY has a website of research projects in various institutions throughout the island on food safety and nutrition. Please advise us at research@safefood.eu should you have information regarding research projects that should be included.