Customization of MedISys for the monitoring of food and feed hazards
Meta data
The present document has been produced and adopted by the bodies identified above as authors. In accordance with Article 36 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, this task has been carried out exclusively by the authors in the context of a grant agreement between the European Food Safety Authority and the authors. The present document is published complying with the transparency principle to which the European Food Safety Authority is subject. It may not be considered as an output adopted by EFSA. EFSA reserves its rights, view and position as regards the issues addressed and the conclusions reached in the present document, without prejudice to the rights of the authors.
Abstract
Within the Service-level agreement (SLA), EFSA and JRC have extended the threat detection system MedISys to food & feed hazards. The media coverage of MedISys has been extended by 300 sources (task 1a of SLA). Over 200 filters for common food & feed hazards have been added covering additives and supplements, animal health, biological hazards, contaminants, feed, food contact material, GMO, nutrition and allergens, pesticides and plant health (task 1b). Within these filters, areas of broader scope were covered (i.e. drivers of change which could have an indirect impact on the food chain). The multi-lingual filters have been tested and fine-tuned to reduce the volume of news articles per day to a manageable level; users can select official or general news sources (task 1c). Deduplication (task 2f) is performed with the same algorithm used for Europe Media Monitor (EMM).
The menu structure of the web site has been amended so that all filters are easily accessible via the web interface. EFSA has its own tab on the menu of the restricted MedISys site which allows all EFSA staff to screen news articles for the new filters (tasks 2d-e). Press coverage on EFSA is available for press officers and senior management.