Four European research and innovation initiatives will come together next week for a high-level online event focused on safeguarding food security in Europe.

The Irish-hosted event will address fraud, crisis risks, cyber threats, and chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) hazards across the food supply chain.

It will bring together experts, project partners, and stakeholders to explore how emerging and evolving threats can undermine food availability, safety, integrity, and resilience.

It will also focus on how coordinated action can strengthen Europe’s preparedness in the face of such crises.

The SecureFood project group has said that as Irish agriculture continues to evolve in response to global pressures, this topic is particularly relevant to farmers, agri-businesses, and industry stakeholders navigating an increasingly complex risk landscape.

The discussion will focus on practical insights around strengthening food system resilience, improving preparedness, and maintaining trust across the supply chain, issues that are central to both domestic and international agricultural markets.

Cross-cutting challenge for Europe

This joint event frames food security as a cross-cutting challenge, linking system integrity, operational continuity, and crisis preparedness.

Through project presentations and an interactive roundtable discussion, participants will examine how different threat vectors interact and where collaborative approaches can deliver greater impact.

Participating projects

The event will feature presentations from four EU-funded projects:

EFF-CoP: Addressing food fraud risks and reinforcing trust as key pillars of food security;
ACT4FOOD: Tackling cyber and cyber-physical threats affecting food systems;
SecureFood: Strengthening food system resilience and governance to support long-term food security
DEFENSEFOOD: Enhancing preparedness and response to major chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) threats

Each project will present how its work contributes to safeguarding food security, followed by a moderated roundtable discussion exploring shared challenges, complementarities, gaps, and joint policy messages.

The event will then conclude with an open Q&A session, offering participants the opportunity to engage directly with project experts.

Key discussion topics

How fraud, cyber, and CBR threats undermine food security;
Which dimensions of food security are most at risk today;
Where current approaches complement each other and where vulnerabilities remain;
What joint messages should be communicated to policymakers and stakeholders;

The 'Safeguarding Food Security in Europe' event will take place online via Zoom on Tuesday, March 31 from 2:00p.m to 3:30p.m.