Every year in the UK, foodborne illness causes over 2.4 million cases of food poisoning and costs the economy around £11 billion. Behind the scenes, food businesses of all sizes work tirelessly to ensure the safety of what we eat. But with new risks emerging and longstanding ones evolving, there’s growing demand for faster innovation, better data, and regulatory approaches that keep pace with change.

Now, with renewed backing from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Food Safety Research Network (FSRN) is entering a major new phase efforts to tackle the UK’s most pressing food safety challenges by linking cutting-edge science with the people who feed the nation.

Newcastle University is a key partner in the initiative, which has just secured £650,000 to strengthen cross-sector partnerships and accelerate the delivery of real-world solutions across the food system.

FSRN was established in 2022 with strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to meet this need, by connecting the expertise of researchers with the hands-on knowledge of food producers, manufacturers, and policymakers.

Ensuring a safe, resilient and future-ready food system

Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, Executive Chair of BBSRC said “Ensuring a safe, resilient and future-ready food system is a national priority and one that depends on strong collaboration between science, industry and government. That’s why BBSRC is proud to continue our partnership with the Food Standards Agency to support the Food Safety Research Network as it enters its next phase.”

“By uniting academic insight with real-world expertise, the network has already demonstrated its power to drive practical solutions to complex food safety challenges. Its inclusive, cross-sector approach is not only tackling today’s risks but laying the foundations for a safer, more sustainable food future.”

From the start, FSRN’s approach has been to listen to the perspectives of its members, who have the hands-on knowledge of food safety issues, to identify the most critical risks and prioritise those to be addressed by interdisciplinary teams with wide skillsets.

FSRN has already grown to include almost 500 members from 290 organisations. It has run 11 workshops and supported 42 collaborative research projects, distributing £1.88 million of funding to multidisciplinary consortia that unite scientific researchers with industry and policymaking perspectives. It has become a trusted, inclusive community, offering valuable training and support, especially for early career researchers and SMEs.

Dr Matthew Gilmour, FSRN co-director and Quadram Institute research group leader said “We’re hitting the ground running with real energy and purpose. The Food Safety Research Network has shown what’s possible when you bring food businesses and researchers into the same room to solve real-world problems.”

“From day one, our model has been built on listening to understand what businesses genuinely need to manage risk and stay ahead of emerging challenges. Building on those insights, we’ve forged partnerships that deliver practical benefits, while also giving government a clearer view of the wider food-safety research landscape.”

“This next phase is all about doing more of what works—bringing in more collaborators, more champions, and creating even greater impact.”

Dr Marie McIntyre, Newcastle’s NUPAcT fellow in partnership with the FSA, said: “I am delighted to be involved in the expansion phase of the network – FSRN exemplifies how translational research should be undertaken to create impact and change, and I am very happy to be a part of the FSRN community.”

The projects FSRN has supported encompass how to reduce the risk of known microbial pathogens, understanding and navigating risk in novel foods and processes, and applying new tools and knowledge to food safety, including for consumers at home.

Dr McIntyre added: “Resulting from the FSRN-Met Office co-branded workshop on ‘Climate change impacts on food safety’, FSRN provided some of the first funding for my Translational Food Safety Fellowship, allowing us to develop a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment microsimulation modelling approach, as well as providing food system industry introductions and facilitating engagement events. Building on the success of this work, the project received further funding from the HNCDI programme at STFC’s Hartree Centre, to upscale and broaden models to quantify the risk of microbial contamination by a variety of foodborne pathogens across multiple food systems covering more fruit, vegetable and salad products. These models will be hosted on an interactive platform, enabling users in the food industry, like food safety regulators and policymakers, as well as food producers and retailers, to see where microbiological risk lies in supply chains, to help with decision making.”

The FSRN Leadership Team is made up of the Quadram Institute, Newcastle University, University of Southampton, Fera Science, University of Leeds, the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Food Standards Agency, Alec Kyriakides consultant, the Fresh Produce Consortium, Innovate UK Business Connect, Samworth Brothers, Queen’s University Belfast, UK Edible Insects Association, Asda and Chilled Food Association.

You can find out more and sign up to the Network by visiting the website.

Press release adapted with thanks from the Food Safety Research Network.