Multi-risk assessment and risk prioritization

Food and, more broadly, food systems are subject to major health, environmental, and economic challenges addressed through the “food-health-environment-agriculture nexus.” The challenges of the 21st century food transition will be to reduce the environmental impact of our food and to change production methods and consumer behavior towards healthier and more sustainable food (Cartron and Fichet 2020). In its scientific strategy, INRAE 2030 considers multidisciplinary research to be a priority in order to respond to the health, economic, and socio-economic challenges posed in particular by the emergence of infectious pathogens. 
In its “Food 2030” agenda, the European Union considers food safety to be part of a food system that includes nutrition, climate, circularity, and innovation (European Commission 2016). 
This much more comprehensive integration of food safety into the study of a complete food system (from new farming methods to consumer expectations) opens up research opportunities on this emerging and competitive topic.

Faced with the challenge of dual climate and protein transition, health assessment must be comprehensive and multirisk, i.e., and consider in addition to microbiology, nutrition, chemistry, in order to provide decision-makers with a 360° view of health risks and inform consumer choices. 
This leads to the inclusion of food safety in a multirisk assessment of the food system.

Multirisk assessment is closely linked to risk assessment. A European project is currently underway on a holistic approach to the food chain: HOLIFOOD. For this reason, they are part of Secalim's theme 2: Assessing health risk.

On this theme, Secalim assesses in particular the effects of climate change on food safety by integrating health (nutrition, microbiology, and toxicology) dimensions. The multirisk assessment also focuses on the study of protein alternatives such as insect proteins and new plant-based formulations.

Theses supervised on this topic:

Pauline Mombert's thesis, defended in 2025, aimed to understand the determinants of the risks and benefits associated with plant-based diets. It involved conducting a joint assessment of the microbiological, chemical, and nutritional risks of highly plant-based diets (such as semi-vegetarian diets) and testing sensitivity to certain changes in the food system.

Mohamed Traoré's thesis, which began at the end of 2025, is part of the ANR Veg&Lait project. His subject focuses on modeling the latency time of heat-treated Bacillus spores in new mixed milk-plant refrigerated products.