A Better Training for Safer Food workshop on microbiological criteria and investigation of food-borne disease outbreaks takes place in Berlin on 22-26 June. About 40 staff members of national competent authorities will attend, mainly from EU Member States and candidate countries.

Diseases or infections transmissible from animals to humans are known as zoonoses. They are usually spread through eating contaminated food or contact with infected animals.

The EU has adopted legislation to improve monitoring of zoonotic agents and to ensure that food-borne disease outbreaks are properly investigated. Microbiological criteria have also been laid down for organisms in specific foodstuffs and national-level authorities verify compliance with these criteria.

This training should increase participants' understanding of relevant EU legislation and their ability to verify compliance with microbiological criteria and investigate disease outbreaks. It will also contribute to harmonising Member State approaches in this area, as this is a key factor in improving controls.

The workshop will comprise activities including presentations, discussion and case-study based exercises. Subjects to be covered in the field of microbiological criteria include relevant EU legislation and implementation and verification of microbiological, hygiene and food safety criteria. Training on food-borne outbreaks is focused on outbreak investigation, surveillance systems, reporting and communication and use of data for risk assessment.

This is the first of five Better Training for Safer Food workshops during 2009-10 on microbiological criteria and investigation of food-borne outbreaks. This programme also includes training on control and eradication of Salmonella on which a further five workshops are to be held. In each module, four workshops take place in Berlin and one in Lyon.