The European Commission has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help detect food fraud, contaminated food, and foodborne disease outbreaks.

The new tool will reinforce consumer safety and help national authorities work more effectively by innovating how food safety risks and fraudulent activity is assessed, detected and responded to, the commission said.

The tool is called 'TraceMap', and the commission said it will improve food safety risk assessment by streamlining access to, and analysing, data.

The tool has also been designed to "rapidly identify" links between operators and consignments; and to monitor the agri-food supply chain once a risk is identified in order to recall food faster.

As of today, TraceMap is accessible to national authorities in all member states, which the commission said enables member states to target controls and carry out more extensive investigations without requiring additional resources.

The commission said that the new platform will improve screening accuracy; speed up the detection of suspicious operators; and help investigators to detect food fraud and food borne outbreaks and remove non-compliant products from the market quickly.

Member states will also be empowered to close gaps, address vulnerabilities, and strengthen their anti-fraud measures in the agri-food sector.

The AI tool processes data from different food safety management platforms across the EU, including the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), and Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES).

A pilot version of TraceMap was recently used to support the identification and recall of infant formula made with contaminated products from China.

Commenting on the new AI tool, European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Oliver Varhelyi said: "TraceMap is a breakthrough which will revolutionise the EU’s capacity to react to food safety crises and to clamp down on food fraud. It will allow faster detection of food fraud and of those trying to circumvent our import conditions.

"It will provide better coordination between member states and stronger protection of both EU farmers and consumers. This is critical infrastructure for crisis prevention and control and should help boost all stakeholders’ confidence in our robust food safety systems," Commissioner Varhelyi added.

Banned growth hormone

The unveiling of TraceMap comes after an investigation found that 5,000kg of imported Brazilian beef containing a banned hormone was 'largely consumed' in the Netherlands last year.

The EU’s RASFF system had notified member states last November that the growth hormone oestradiol, which is banned in the EU, had been identified in consignments of beef from Brazil.

EU controls and audits led to a recall of this beef in November, however some of the consignment had already entered the EU food chain via the Netherlands.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) was also notified in December 12, by the Food Standards Agency Northern Ireland, that a consignment of beef, with an expiry date of October 31, 2025 - from animals that had been treated with oestradiol - had been distributed from Northern Ireland to three food businesses in the Republic of Ireland in September.

The FSAI said that 128kg of Brazilian beef that contained the banned growth promoting hormone had entered the Irish market, and had probably been eaten by consumers.