Session 1
PETER: Promoting European Traceability Excellence & Research

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Michel DEBORD (1) & Robert OGER (2)
1 CCI Gers, France
2 CRA-W, Gembloux, Belgium

The PETER project is a critical EU Specific Support Action programme, providing an international forum for  ocusing and disseminating the results of the EUs _ 100 million investment in eight research programmes on food traceability, which the EU have supported in the new millennium. It will answer the urgent need for rapid consolidation and dissemination of European expertise to developing countries and SMEs so that they can have access to the global markets that now exist.

Comprising an inner network of the co-ordinators of these 8 key projects, PETER has extended it’s reach to include other key actors who have become involved in EU research on traceability.

The first phase of this 2 year project has focussed on consolidation. The different strands of intra-European research were brought together via a 3-day workshop which addressed key issues, including: inter project communication and co-operation; International training programmes; European and international dissemination products; European and global standardisation activities; SME, Regulatory and Consumer stakeholder needs.

Following this initial exploratory programme, PETER has launched its international
activities through:

(i) a series of international workshops and conferences,
(ii) a web based communication vehicle and
(iii) specific platforms for dialogue with industry, consumer and standardisation stakeholders.

Keywords:
Food security, food safety, food quality, food traceability, geotraceability, traceability systems and language, chemical methods of analysis, methods for bio-traceability, sensors, socio-economic impacts