Abstract Tools for supranational communication of food safety risks like the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) play an increasingly important role in consumer protection along global supply chains. They allow for a coordinated response to emerging public health threats such as Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), the causative agent of the foodborne disease listeriosis. As a result of disease severity and the rising number of human listeriosis cases in Germany since 2011, an effective reporting system on Lm contamination in food products has become more crucial than ever to counteract this trend. Therefore, we analysed RASFF notifications on food products contaminated with Lm and distributed in Germany, 2001 to 2015, assessed trends in the reported data and addressed options for improvement in the current notification system. In RASFF Lm notifications concerning Germany from 2001 to 2015, there was often a discrepancy between country of origin and notifying country, indicating that the food safety risk was not always recognised at the earliest possible time point of the product's life span. In addition, in our dataset, most Lm notifications were driven by official controls when the respective product was already on the market. However, starting in 2005, there was an increasing trend for company's own checks. This trend of making food manufacturers accountable for the detection and notification of contaminated products in the production line is a first step into the right direction as it might help to reduce the number of contaminated food products that enter the market. Besides its function as a reporting tool, the RASFF may also facilitate the identification of risk factors associated with Lm contamination so that the problem can be tackled at its root. Unfortunately, information about packaging and food processing was only mentioned in a minority of Lm notifications. Hence, risk factors cannot be easily identified. In the future, a comprehensive database including additional metadata together with the RASFF notification should be established. Although a solid basis for the surveillance of Lm, there is still room for improvement in RASFF to speed-up the flow of information. This might help to identify food safety risks that can be harmful to European consumers much faster, more effectively prevent the spread of risk bearing food products and consequently reduce the burden of listeriosis.

中文翻译：

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对被单核细胞增生李斯特菌污染的食品的 RASFF 通知的分析揭示了改进食品和饲料快速警报系统的选项

摘要 欧洲食品和饲料快速警报系统 (RASFF) 等食品安全风险的跨国交流工具在全球供应链的消费者保护中发挥着越来越重要的作用。它们可以协调应对新出现的公共卫生威胁，例如单核细胞增生李斯特菌 (Lm)，这是食源性疾病李斯特菌病的病原体。由于疾病的严重性和自 2011 年以来德国人类李斯特菌病病例数量的增加，食品中 Lm 污染的有效报告系统变得比以往任何时候都更加重要，以抵消这一趋势。因此，我们分析了 2001 年至 2015 年关于受 Lm 污染并在德国销售的食品的 RASFF 通知，评估了报告数据的趋势，并提出了改进当前通知系统的选项。在 2001 年至 2015 年德国的 RASFF Lm 通报中，原产国和通报国之间经常存在差异，表明食品安全风险并不总是在产品生命周期的最早时间点得到识别。此外，在我们的数据集中，当相应产品已经上市时，大多数 Lm 通知是由官方控制驱动的。但是，从 2005 年开始，公司自有支票有增加的趋势。这种让食品制造商负责检测和通报生产线上受污染产品的趋势是朝着正确方向迈出的第一步，因为它可能有助于减少进入市场的受污染食品的数量。除了作为报告工具的功能之外，RASFF 还可以促进识别与 Lm 污染相关的风险因素，以便从根本上解决问题。不幸的是，有关包装和食品加工的信息仅在少数 Lm 通知中提及。因此，不容易识别风险因素。将来，应该建立一个综合数据库，包括附加元数据和 RASFF 通知。虽然为 Lm 的监视奠定了坚实的基础，但 RASFF 仍有改进的空间，以加快信息的流动。这可能有助于更快地识别可能对欧洲消费者有害的食品安全风险，更有效地防止带有风险的食品的传播，从而减轻李斯特菌病的负担。