The cluster Bonn.realis e.V. is attempting to increase the safety of foodstuffs and develop fast and optimal methods of resolution through innovate concepts and IT solutions. On Wednesday, the 16th Jour fixe took place on the Campus Klein-Altendorf in Rheinbach, with the theme of how to handle such food crises in the fruit- and vegetable industry. Among the participants and members of the Jour fixe were distinguished experts and institutions, companies and managers of the food industry.
Among others, Dr. Martin Hamer of IZNE of the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg supplied a number of methods of resolution. In a keynote speech to the theme “micro organism-induced food crises in the fruit- and vegetable industry – Lessons learned from the EHEC crisis”, Hamer pointed out what the industry and politics have learned from the EHEC outbreak, and how to handle such crises in the future. “Complex value chains and decentralized systems make optimal crisis management more difficult”, Dr. Martin Hamer explains. “The communication between the authorities, companies and the general public need to be optimized. We have to succeed in providing systems that harmonize and enable optimal information exchange.”
Bettina Hundt of Chainpoint GmbH presented an existing method of resolution. The software firm offers a secure online platform for administration and display of information on products, processes and suppliers for a sustainable value chain. “With our program Fresh.Point we have created a web-based databank, which offers our users complete residue monitoring from A to Z, Bettina Hundt describes. “The data of the users are recorded, analyzed and evaluated. Then, the user can anonymously make the data available for other users. In case of a crisis, this should be of assistance in quickly processing data and finding the cause of the crisis.” ChainPoint believes that cooperation and information exchange offer many advantages to the supply chain.
Traceability: an important theme for the future
Dr. Hanns-Christoph Eiden, chairman of BLE and CEO of Bonn.realis is sure that “economy and politics have learned from the crises.” Much has happened in the past few years”, he describes. “A variety of solutions and systems to prevent food crises are in development. For example, the documentation and registration of a variety of research parameters for fruit and vegetables.” Nevertheless, Eiden and the members of Bonn.realis are certain that especially on the theme of traceability, much still needs to be done. Dr. Martin Hamer is of the opinion that “The effects of a food crisis is also determined by the crisis communication. One needs to know how a crises is perceived amongst the public, and how to respond to that as a company.”
Following the successful Jour fixe, Kompetenzzentrum Gartenbau (KoGa) invited all participants to a guided tour of the test facility of Campus-Klein-Altendorf. Here, researchers and experts of KoGa and external institutions are researching new systems and methods for optimization of organic and integrated fruit cultivation. The next Bonn.realis Jour fixe will take place in November 2015.
