The importance of data sharing for AI applications from a traceability perspective : Mining supply chain information from food and feed contamination notifications with the Rapid Alert Supply Network EXtractor (RASNEX)

Within Europe, National competent authorities of member countries use the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) to report information on any (i) human health risks arising from food or feed, (ii) serious feed-related risks to animal health or the environment. It is of utmost importance to rapidly identify the operators affected and withdraw causative products, as the impact on human and/or animal health and the environmental and economic damage increase over time.

During an ongoing incident, relevant information collected in the RASFF system about affected product flows is distributed in PDF documents along with supporting attachments such as delivery lists, invoices, etc. While the notifications are mostly structured, sections of free text contain valuable information. Attached documents come in various formats, with semi-structured text, tabular data and varying qual-
ity (digital format, scans or photographs). As Member States continuously provide and update relevant information, rapid extraction and analysis of critical information is essential but challenging for risk managers and risk assessors.

To facilitate data sharing and the investigation of incidents, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), is developing solutions such as RASNEX, the harmonized data format UTX or FoodChain-Lab.