New Food Investigation Techniques-Phase II

NOTE: SESSIONS FACE-TO-FACE WILL BE ORGANISED CONSIDERING COVID-19 OUTBREAK IS CONTROLLED, AND VACCINATION IN EU COUNTRIES REACHES THE EXPECTED % OF COVERAGE IN EU POPULATION.

BACKGROUND

In the wake of the events regarding the horsemeat scandal, the Commission has started to implement actions to fight food fraud, to strengthen the EU control system and restore consumer confidence. The priorities in the plan include the strengthening of official controls along the food chain and more effective tools for cross-border cooperation among the authorities in charge of such controls.

To improve the effectiveness of official controls in relation to food fraud and e-commerce of food, it is essential that staff of competent authorities be equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills, adjusted to the needs of such controls. The training is serving therefore as a way to disseminate best practices, improve knowledge in this area and enabling the exchange of practical experience.

The program will be divided in two courses, having developed two different levels for the second course, standard and advance with the aim to improve knowledge on new effective and efficient control/investigation techniques to:

From 2018 to 2019 the program will offer three different courses of audits:

NIT (Course 1): A total of 6 sessions of 4 days of General investigation and control techniques.
EC1 (Course 2a): A total of 3 sessions of 4 days of E-commerce of food – Standard level.
EC2 (Course 2b): A total of 3 sessions of 4 days of E-commerce of food – Advanced level.

TECHNICAL PARTNERS

The following European agencies and institutions, actively involved in food fraud detection in their respective countries, provide technical support to AENOR in the implementation of this project:

TSI http://www.tradingstandards.uk/home.cfm
Guardia Civil – SEPRONA http://www.guardiacivil.es/en/institucional/Conocenos/especialidades/Medio_ambiente/index.html
NVWA www.nvwa.nl
OCLAESP http://www.gendarmerie.interieur.gouv.fr/Notre-Institution/Nos-missions/Police-judiciaire/Environnement-et-sante-publique-OCLAESP
ASAE http://www.asae.gov.pt/
CAFIA http://www.szpi.gov.cz/en/
FAVV (AFSCA) http://www.afsca.be/home-en/
SVFA Slovakia http://www.svps.sk/english/

PROFILE PARTICIPANTS

The selection criteria to participate in NIT (Course 1) are:

Officials from inspection bodies: ideally involved in planning and organizing control activities (preferably at central level)
Police investigators/ Customs officers/Judicial staff…etc
Working knowledge of English
Ability to share their experience

The selection criteria to participate in EC1 (Course 2a standard) are:

Officials from inspection bodies: ideally involved in planning and organizing control activities (preferably at central level)
Working knowledge of English
Be committed to disseminate the knowledge gained (courses, workshops, articles, blogs) in the short medium term once the training ends

The selection criteria to participate in EC2 (Course 2b advanced) are:

Enforcement staff from an already existing or planned internet search or control unit
At least 3 years’ experience working in competent authorities related to Internet investigations of food frauds,
Same requirements as for Course 2a,
Be committed to disseminate the knowledge gained (courses, workshops, articles, blogs) in the short medium term once the training ends