Jeanne-Marie Membré once stared at a single spreadsheet of food safety data from France. Now, she and her team can explore 392 million records from across Europe, all in one place. This vast collection, called the CompreHensive European Food Safety database (CHEFS), is the largest of its kind, combining decades of monitoring data on everything from pesticides in animal feed to heavy metals in crops. It was built by researchers from the HOLiFOOD project, a five-year effort to strengthen Europe’s ability to spot food safety risks before they become crises.
Food safety isn’t just about testing food in labs anymore. Risks are shifting because of climate change, global trade, and how we grow and transport food. To stay ahead, scientists need to see patterns across time and borders. CHEFS makes that possible. Researchers can now use artificial intelligence to study how weather, economic trends, and farming practices affect contamination levels. In one test, AI analyzed historical data on mycotoxins, dioxins, and pesticides alongside weather patterns and predicted where feed samples were most likely to exceed safety limits. It’s not a replacement for lab tests, but it can help officials decide where to focus their attention.
The database is just one part of HOLiFOOD’s legacy. The project also studied new tools like portable PCR systems, biosensors, and AI-powered chemical analysis. These technologies can detect harmful substances faster and cheaper than traditional methods, but they aren’t widely used yet. One reason: there’s no clear path for approving and sharing them across countries. HOLiFOOD recommends creating common rules for testing these tools and building data systems that can talk to each other.
But even the best data and tech won’t help if people don’t trust them or understand the risks. The team found that threats like climate-driven contamination often feel too distant for citizens to act on. A warning about rising mycotoxin levels might make sense to a scientist, but not to a farmer or parent. So the project urges officials to share risks in ways that hit closer to home—using local examples and listening to community concerns. Social media and citizen reports can help spot early warnings, but they must be checked against official data.
As HOLiFOOD wraps up, its message is clear: better data and AI can make food safer, but only if they’re used wisely. "Better data and new technologies can strengthen food safety, but they are only part of the answer," says Membré. "We also need expert interpretation, effective communication with citizens and policy decisions that consider consequences across the whole food system." With CHEFS now public, the hope is that researchers, policymakers, and public health experts will use it to look not just at what’s in our food today, but what might be there tomorrow.