Main drivers affecting the food chain, like global trade, demographic growth, climate change, socio-economic changes, energy-, water- and food security, all point towards increasing complexity. Food security and food safety is affected by the flow of food trade, the spread of agents through the movement of animals and people, or, for example, the regulatory network of bacteria that enables them to survive food processing. The conventional risk assessment and risk prediction methodologies are not able to capture such a level of complexity.

The food professionals of the future – in academia, industry and public administration alike – need to be better prepared for complex systems, which inevitably means a need for higher level of information management and computational science knowledge. The key to this is a multidisciplinary education and research, which requires proactive steps towards closer collaboration of all scientific fields involved.

The Digital Food Institute plans to integrate analysis and research on food safety data along the food chain and to take cooperation in this area to a new level. The Institute aims to be a regionally recognised hub of experts and researchers in the field of food chain safety data analysis.

The Institute carries out food chain-based, integrated research for the agri-food chain actors in areas requiring scientific complex problem solving and data analysis. The Institute uses innovative approaches, the latest technological solutions and modern data science methods and makes them available to a wide range of stakeholders. The Institute works in close collaboration with Hungarian and foreign universities, research institutions, authorities and with international organisations active in this field.