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Open Data for Food Quality and Food Security Control: a Case Study of the Czech Republic
M. Ulman, M. Stoces, J. Jarolimek, P. Simek
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Food quality and food security is of a high public interest in the European Union. In the Czech Republic, food quality and food security is under control of three different public authorities: the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (CTIA) that is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) that is affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic and the regional network of hygienic stations that are affiliated with the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. The competences of control bodies are divided such as following. CAFIA can control all public catering in terms of food production, HACCP compliance, food storage, distribution and sale. Czech hygienic stations operate on regional level and they can collect food samples and conduct microbiological analysis, chemical substances assessment, and can reveal an intentional replacement of food ingredients. CTIA’s interest is in control of compliance with food quality and health conditions and it checks also amounts of served food and beverages, advertising and financial issues.

The main goal of the paper is to contribute to understanding of open data leveraging for better food quality and food safety. Results presented in the article are twofold. Firstly, we build a comprehensive overview of available data sources in domains of food quality and food safety in restaurants in the Czech Republic. Secondly, we conduct an evaluation of data sources and existing applications.

Technical issues such as data availability, format and merge seem to be main technical issues for better information provision. However, much larger issues are language conversions and legal compliance of published data. Food safety and food quality, in general, are topic on a high stake not only in developing countries, but also in developed regions of the world. New concepts of data provision and reuse should be analyzed, explored and implemented to bring better, more accurate and quality information to citizens, public authorities and all other relevant stakeholders.

Keyword: Food safety, food quality, control, public authority, open data, Czech Republic