An upcoming webinar featuring four European research and innovation initiatives will explore how food security can be safeguarded by addressing fraud, crises, cyber threats, and chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) hazards across the food supply chain.

The free virtual event, titled, “Safeguarding Food Security in Europe: Managing Fraud, Crisis Risks, CBR and Cyber Threats Across the Food Supply Chain,” will be hosted via Zoom from 14:00–15:00 CET (8:00–9:00 A.M. ET) on March 31, 2026, and can be accessed here.

It will bring together experts, project partners, and stakeholders to explore how emerging and evolving threats can undermine food availability, safety, integrity, and resilience, as well as how coordinated action can strengthen European preparedness.

Food Security: A Cross-Cutting Challenge

Food security is shaped by complex and interconnected risks. From food fraud and weak governance to cyber-physical attacks and major CBR incidents, today’s threats demand integrated solutions that span prevention, detection, response, and recovery.

The joint event frames food security as a cross-cutting challenge, linking system integrity, operational continuity, and crisis preparedness. Through project presentations and an interactive roundtable discussion, participants will examine how different threat vectors interact and where collaborative approaches can deliver greater impact.

Participating Projects 

The event will feature presentations from four EU-funded projects, each offering a distinct but complementary perspective on protecting Europe’s food systems:

• The European Food Fraud Community of Practice (EFF-CoP): Addressing food fraud risks and reinforcing trust as key pillars of food security
• ACT4FOOD: Tackling cyber and cyber-physical threats affecting food systems
• SECUREFOOD: Strengthening food system resilience and governance to support long-term food security
• DEFENSEFOOD: Enhancing preparedness and response to major CBR threats.

Each project will present how its work contributes to safeguarding food security, followed by a moderated roundtable discussion exploring shared challenges, complementarities, gaps, and joint policy messages. The event will conclude with an open Q&A session, offering participants the opportunity to engage directly with project experts.

Key topics of discussion will include:

• How fraud, cyber, and CBR threats undermine food security
• Which dimensions of food security are at greatest risk today
• Where current approaches complement each other—and where vulnerabilities remain
• What joint messages should be communicated to policymakers and stakeholders.