1. ELVIRA Programme Statement Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry markku.jarvenpaa@mmm.fi Secretary General of the Advisory Board for Agri-Food Research markku.jarvenpaa@mmm.fi Research Programme on Nutrition, Food and Health ELVIRA 2006 - 2010

2. 2 ELVIRA and Food Sciences Evaluation The activity of the Academy of Finland in the field of food sciences is very much appreciated by MMM MMM was happy to see that one of its branch institutes, the National Veterinary and Food Research Institute EELA - with regard to its mission, scientific quality, impact and organisation of the research - scored well compared to other public health oriented insitutions in the fields of –Food safety research –Risk assessment MMM hopes that its branch institutes can utilise ELVIRA as a tool to further strenghten their ability to respond to the needs of society and food industry

3. 3 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Participates in the programme –as a Steering Committee member –as a co-financor Application procedure –use the forms of the Academy of Finland –send the forms to the academy by the deadline 28 April 2006 Funding criteria –MMM will concetrate on the proposals most relevant to the overall goals of the Ministry Scientific quality not compromised

4. 4 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Goals of MMM –building evidence base for sustainable food safety governance (risk management, production and processing, traceable production chains) –Support for the National Quality Strategy for Food Competitiveness of local production Co-operation within the food chain Interaction of disciplines so as to solve a problem in the society –A specific challenge to the already ongoing co- operation between HY/Vet; HY/Hyg and EELA –Industry co-operation when relevant