Food may contain hazards (e. g. viruses or bacteria) which can be harmful for humans and lead to foodborne disease outbreaks. These outbreaks and their investigations are becoming increasingly complex due to changing patterns in the global food production and supply chain networks resulting in more and more complex delivery networks. FoodChain-Lab helps you to collect, handle and analyze the huge amounts of food delivery data needed in such an investigation.
Supply chain data can be imported to FoodChain-Lab via Excel templates as shown in the Data Collection Tutorial. To get a first impression of what you can do with FoodChain-Lab please watch the video demonstration below or download our flyer.
Your team is working on a foodborne disease outbreak and you need support?
We can aid European Member States with tracing and visualisations using FoodChain-Lab.
For free!
If you are interested, please contact foodrisklabs@bfr.bund.de!
FoodChain-Lab is available as desktop version embedded in the KNIME Analytics Platform or as FoodChain-Lab Web App.
FoodChain-Lab as open-source software
If you are a software developer and interested in the source code of FCL Desktop you can find everything on GitHub. The source code for FCL Web can be found on GitHub as well (here and here). Both, FCL Desktop and FCL Web are released under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
FoodChain-Lab events
Please find an overview of current FoodChain-Lab events here.
FoodChain-Lab References
Rügen M, Falenski A, Gottschald M
The Universal Traceability data eXchange format (UTX)
Gottschald M, Falenski A, Rügen M, Kaesbohrer A, Weiser AA.
Map and analyse global food and feed supply chains
EFSA supporting publication 2019:EN-1742. 35 pp.
doi:10.2903/sp.efsa.2019.EN-1742 
Gottschald M, Falenski A, Rügen M, Thöns C, Kaesbohrer A, Appel B, Mosbach-Schulz O, Weiser AA.
FoodChain-Lab: an innovative tool to increase food safety through supply chain analyses
In: BfR Wissenschaft: Feed and food safety in times of global production and trade. 2019. 259 pp.
Weiser AA, Thoens C, Falenski A, Appel B, Filter M, Kaesbohrer A.
FoodChain-lab: Tracing Software Supporting Foodborne Disease Outbreak Investigations
Procedia Food Science. 2016, 7: 101-104.
doi:10.1016/j.profoo.2016.02.097
Weiser AA, Thöns C, Filter M, Falenski A, Appel B, Käsbohrer A.
Foodchain-Lab: A Trace-Back and Trace-Forward Tool Developed and Applied During Food-Borne Disease Outbreak Investigations in Germany and Europe
PLoS ONE. 2016, 11(3): e0151977.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0151977
Weiser AA, Gross S, Schielke A, Wigger JF, Ernert A, Adolphs J, et al.
Trace-Back and Trace-Forward Tools Developed Ad Hoc and Used During the Stec O104:H4 Outbreak 2011 in Germany and Generic Concepts for Future Outbreak Situations
Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. 2013, 10(3): 263-269.
doi:10.1089/fpd.2012.1296
Weiser AA, Filter M, Falenski A, Brandt J, Thöns C, Käsbohrer A, et al.
An Open-Source Community Resource for Creating, Collecting, Sharing and Applying Predictive Microbial Models (Pmm-Lab)
In: Aschenbruck N, Martini P, Meier M, Tölle J, editors. Future Security: 7th Security Research Conference, Future Security 2012, Bonn, Germany, September 4-6, 2012 Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2012. p. 462-465.
doi:10.1007/978-3-642-33161-9_65
References on outbreak investigations and case studies:
In 2013 and 2014 FoodChain-Lab was used in a multinational hepatitis A virus outbreak in Europe. The application of FoodChain-Lab in this outbreak and in several others are described in the following references:
European Centre for Disease Prevention Control (ECDC) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Multi-country outbreak of Salmonella Poona infections linked to consumption of infant formula.
EFSA Supporting Publications. 2019, 16, 1594E.
doi:10.2903/sp.efsa.2019.EN-1594
European Centre for Disease Prevention Control (ECDC) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Multi-country outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes clonal complex 8 infections linked to consumption of cold-smoked fish products.
EFSA Supporting Publications. 2019, 16, 1665E.
doi:10.2903/sp.efsa.2019.EN-1665
Enkirch T, Eriksson R, Persson S, Schmid D, Aberle SW, Lof E, Wittesjo B, Holmgren B, Johnzon C, Gustafsson EX, Svensson LM, Sandelin LL, Richter L, Lindblad M, Brytting M, Maritschnik S, Tallo T, Malm T, Sundqvist L and Ederth JL.
Hepatitis A outbreak linked to imported frozen strawberries by sequencing, Sweden and Austria, June to September 2018.
Eurosurveillance. 2018, 23.
doi:10.2807/1560-7917.Es.2018.23.41.1800528
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention Control (ECDC).
Multi-country outbreak of Salmonella Agona infections possibly linked to ready-to-eat food.
EFSA Supporting Publications. 2018, 15, 1465E.
doi:10.2903/sp.efsa.2018.EN-1465
Gobin M, Hawker J, Cleary P, Inns T, Gardiner D, Mikhail A, McCormick J, Elson R, Ready D, Dallman T, Roddick I, Hall I, Willis C, Crook P, Godbole G, Tubin-Delic D and Oliver I.
National outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 linked to mixed salad leaves, United Kingdom, 2016.
Eurosurveillance. 2018, 23.
doi:10.2807/1560-7917.Es.2018.23.18.17-00197
Inns T, Cleary P, Bundle N, Foulkes S, Sharp A, Utsi L, McBrien C, Teagle R, Waldram A, Williams C, McCann C, Smith R, Saleh S, McCarthy N, Vivancos R, Hawker J and Decraene V.
Novel application of the matched case-control design to compare food supply chains during an Escherichia coli O157 outbreak, United Kingdom, 2016.
Eurosurveillance. 2018, 23.
doi:10.2807/1560-7917.Es.2018.23.18.17-00195
Vincent A and Merchant R.
Joint EFSA and ECDC 2018 workshop on preparedness for a multi-national food safety/public health incident.
EFSA Supporting Publications. 2018, 15, 1480E.
doi:10.2903/sp.efsa.2018.EN-1480
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Multi-country outbreak of new Salmonella enterica 11:z41:e,n,z15 infections associated with sesame seeds.
EFSA Supporting Publications. 2017, EN-1256.
doi:10.2903/sp.efsa.2017.EN-1256
Mikhail AFW, Jenkins C, Dallman TJ, Inns T, Martin AIC, Fox A, Cleary P, Elson R and Hawker J.
An outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 associated with contaminated salad leaves: epidemiological, genomic and food trace back investigations.
Epidemiology and Infection. 2017, 146, 187-196.
doi:10.1017/s0950268817002874
European Food Safety Authority.
Tracing of Food Items in Connection to the Multinational Hepatitis a Virus Outbreak in Europe.
EFSA Journal. 2014, 12(9):3821: 1-186.
doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3821