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The overall objective of SafeConsume is to reduce health burden from foodborne illnesses with developping new strategies. To reach the objective we need to change consumers behavior to reduce exposure to hazards and decrease risk through:

• effective and convenient tools and products
• information strategies
• education
• inclusive food safety policy.

Hazards in food accounts for about 23 million cases of illness and 5000 death in Europe every year. Nearly 40 percent of foodborn outbreaks are domestic/kitchen outbreaks and food safety violations at the consumer stage are common, particularly due to poor hygiene and insufficient heating and cooling. SafeConsumE will through case studies target the top five foodborne hazards in Europe, accounting for about 70% of the health burden related to foodborne illness: Campylobacter, Toxoplasma, Salmonella, Norovirus and Listeria.

Since consumer behavior is both a core problem and solution, SafeConsumE will map food-handling behaviors in all regions of Europe, documented by large web-based studies, and in-depth investigations. The data will include the general population as well as typically vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and the increasing population of elderly. Diagram from http:safebosume.eu

A pan-European overview of consumer behaviours will be made by collecting risk-based behavioral data from households in five European countries. This will be done through observation, interviews and sampling during five critical stages of food handling from retail to consumption, and combining this with data from the literature.

SafeConsume is funded by Horizon2020 for five years (may 2017-april 2022) and coordinated by Nofima. There are 32 different partners from 14 European countries. Among them are three multinational companies and four SMEs.