In what quantities do we ingest desirable and undesirable substances on average through our food? Are certain foods more contaminated than others? And what health effects does the preparation method have on the food? The BfR MEAL Study helps to answer these and other questions.
The BfR MEAL study from shopping to exposure estimation as a photo gallery. The photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.
Das Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung
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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