Das Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the World Health Organization (WHO) hosted the "6th International Workshop on Total Diet Studies (TDS)" on 10 and 11 October 2022.
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Iodine is an essential trace element that must be consumed with the diet. Both, an insufficient and an excessive iodine intake, can be associated with health risks.
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The field study phase of the first German Total Diet Study has been completed. Over the past four years, the BfR MEAL Study team has bought around 60,000 food items, processed them into meals and analysed them for almost 300 substances. At the time of sampling, pooled samples of foods were stored in a long-term storage facility. They are stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius in glass or polypropylene containers. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) provides these long-term samples for external cooperation. Various cooperations are possible: e.g. further analysis of substances not taken into account in the BfR MEAL Study or a comparison of the samples with data from other analyses.
In order to assess the possibility of a cooperation, interested parties are asked to send an outline of the project idea of max. two pages as well as information on the required sample amount by email to meal@bfr.bund.de.
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The latest project of the BfR MEAL study asks, how much of sweeteners like aspartame, cyclamate and saccharine are contained in soft drinks such as lemonades, fruit soft drinks and energy drinks.
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At the International Green Week, which took place digitally on 20 and 21 January 2021, the BfR was offering insights into the processes taking place within the BfR MEAL Study. Those who are interested could follow a video tour through the study kitchen and join the different steps starting with the purchasing of foods and ending with the preparation of a meal.
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Between 2008 and 2010, the BfR calculated the levels of environmental contaminants, such as cadmium and lead, ingested via food in Germany as part of the LExUKon project. This was based on concentration data collected by the German food monitoring program. The first results of the BfR MEAL Study are now available. They complement these levels.
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Experience the BfR MEAL Study up close – this is possible thanks to the new virtual tour through the study rooms.
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The foods prepared in the BfR MEAL Study are tested on 282 substances in nine modules. The updated list of substances indicates which substances these are and is now available for download here.
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What do gummy bears, tuna fish and broccoli have in common? Foods like these cannot be homogenised for the BfR MEAL Study without prior treatment.
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A glimpse behind the scenes of the BfR MEAL Study: International Green Week visitors were able to experience a live link to the MEAL study kitchen.
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In order to continue sharing expertise concerning Total Diet Studies (TDS) and to promote and support implementation of TDS, the 6th International TDS Workshop is co-sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Berlin. Registrations are now possible.
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Exchanging experiences on Total Diet Studies in Germany and China: This was the objective of the delegation from the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) and the German MEAL Study team at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR).
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What foods are currently being examined for desirable and undesirable substances by the BfR MEAL Study? How many individual results are already available? At which event will current progress be discussed? The twice yearly BfR MEAL News of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is packed with information about Germany's first Total Diet Study.
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Germany’s first Total Diet Study has completed the first of two field phases. In the past two and a half years, the BfR MEAL Study team has purchased almost 30,000 food items and then prepared more than 9,000 recipes in the specially fitted study kitchen, the same way they are normally dished up in Germany.
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How many foods are being processed into meals in the study kitchen? What foods are being taken into consideration and what substances are they being tested for? The latest issue of BfR2GO presents the BfR MEAL Study in numbers illustrated with compact infographics.
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What's in our food? This was one of the questions that federal minister Julia Klöckner followed up on in the BfR MEAL study kitchen during her visit to the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) on 4 June 2019.
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What progress can the BfR MEAL study team report from the first two years of the field phase? What are the next steps of the second field phase of the first German total diet study to look like? The International Advisory Board of the BfR MEAL Study met at the BfR location in Alt-Marienfelde on 13 and 14 April 2019 to discuss these questions.
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With the formal opening of the study kitchen two years ago, the starting gun was fired for the experimental phase of the BfR MEAL study. Ever since, the BfR MEAL team has already covered more than 80,000 kilometres in four different regions of Germany to purchase food from various shopping outlets, taking into account seasonal and regional peculiarities.
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On October 19th and 20th, 2017 the International Advisory Board for the BfR MEAL Study met for the fourth time at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment site at Alt-Marienfelde in Berlin. Together with scientists and researchers from international organisations such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), BfR’s French sister agency, ANSES, and experts from within Germany, the BfR-MEAL Study team discussed experiences from the first year of the study. The upcoming challenges with regard to the sampling and analysis of foods have also been an issue, as well as how to communicate the initial set of study results expected at the beginning of 2019.
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October 20th 2017, marks the first anniversary of the opening of the BfR MEAL kitchen. Since then food has been bought in four different regions in Germany, then prepared in the BfR MEAL kitchen in Berlin and subsequently examined in external laboratories for more than 300 different substances. Around 1,000 samples have already been analysed within the past year.
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On October 20, 2016, the BfR MEAL study kitchen was opened jointly by Dr. Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), Thomas Mahlberg, Member of the German Bundestag, and Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel, President of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR).
As part of the opening event at the BfR site in Alt-Marienfelde, the German radioeins presenter Marco Seiffert accompanied the guests through the programme explaining the concept of the study.
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Because of its complexity, the BfR MEAL Study offers numerous connecting points for further satellite studies by external partners. For example, there is a cooperation with the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) where samples prepared in the BfR MEAL kitchen are analysed for radiation from radioactive elements such as uranium.
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The BfR MEAL Study intends to find out which substances and in what concentrations consumers living in Germany eat on a daily basis in their food. For this reason, the food prepared in the BfR MEAL kitchen is purchased all over Germany. To this end, two teams of buyers drive to four regions in Germany, each with three sample points in a metropolitan, provincial and rural area.
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