This document discusses the Global Decision Support Initiative (GDSI) at the Technical University of Denmark. GDSI aims to provide decision makers with holistic and transparent decision support based on sustainability, risk, and benefit assessments. It outlines GDSI's objectives to develop a decision support framework, establish an open decision support platform, apply the framework to various domains through research and consulting, and educate engineers in sustainability and risk assessment. The document also discusses mapping and selecting indicators and metrics for integrated food security assessments and provides an example case study on indicators for a cured ham production chain.

1. INTEGRATED FOOD SECURITY:
mapping and selecting different
indicators and metrics
Elena Boriani, Simona Miraglia, Tine Hald
GDSI – DTU- Denmark
ebor@food.dtu.dk

2. DTU Food, Technical University of Denmark
What is GDSI?
•Established January 2015 in response to the tremendous
challenges facing global society in the quest of sustainable
and safe solutions.
•Globalization, climatic change and diminishing resources are
boundary conditions to which decision makers and
stakeholder’s at all societal scales must react and adapt –
and time is an issue.
“GDSI’s mission is to provide decision and policy makers in the national and
global community with holistic, coherent and transparent decision support,
based on the joint assessment of sustainability, risks, and benefits, and
appropriately considering the associated uncertainties”

3. DTU Food, Technical University of Denmark
http://www.nature.com/
16 September 2015

4. DTU Food, Technical University of Denmark
ONE HEALTH
Risk-benefit Assessment a.o.
Life Cycle Assessment a.o.
SUSTAINABILITY
DTU GDSI

5. 5
Risk Assessment
(RA)
Focus:
Life Safety and health
Emissions to environment
Economy/costs
Integration
LCA / RA
Decision Support
Cross-cutting
issues:
Data, scaling,
metrics,
scope, …
Harmonisation I:
• Basic research
• Data
• Methodologies
• Scope/boundaries
• Scenarios
Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA)
Sustainability pillars:
Environment
Economy
Social
Harmonisation II:
• Uncertainty
• Results
• Reporting
• Applicability
Transport
Water management
Food
Complex technical systems
Natural disasters
Critical infrastructureSystem

6. 6
GDSI Objectives
• To develop of a decision support framework considering
sustainability, risk and benefits, and uncertainty.
– It will include methodological guidelines in regard to: decision
rationale, governance, knowledge and uncertainty representation,
decision modeling, system representation, system analysis.
– It will be placed on an Open Decision Support Platform, where
(links to) relevant data, assessment methods and models, risk and
sustainability metrics are organized and made available to the public.
– It will be applied to several domains for research and consulting
activities e.g. food production systems, natural hazards risk
management, climate adaption and transport infrastructure
management.
• To educate a new generation of engineers across all technical disciplines
in sustainability‐ and risk assessment and science‐based decision support
by providing educational initiatives at all curricular levels.
• To advice national and international decision makers faced with complex
decision situation with scientific decision support knowledge and tools.

7. 7
INDICATOR´S MAP:
shape the information
Each indicator and metric has information (where available) about :
origin name units formula
regulated not regulated uncertainty
analytical certified
methodology ,
mesurable – can
be monitored
possibility to
calculate by
models
project working
with indicators
composite single

8. 8
Not only 1 solution but many solutions to
get a set of SUITABLE indicators and
metrics for a specific case
Depending on
Target / problem
Stakeholder
Available data
Regulations
Uncertainty
Guidelines
…..
SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses,
opportunities and
threats)
Problem solving
Ranking
Expert opinion
System thinking
System dynamic

9. 9
Elements to be combined with indicators for each case study
•Stakeholders (e.g. NGO, regulators, industry,
consumers, distribution chains)
•Targets (Problem Identification): specific hazards /
pathogens/ sustainibility /nutrition / environment /
food security /food safety…
•Production (production /packaging /transport
/storage /distribution /labelling)

10. Case study (prosciutto- cured ham)
• List of HAZARDS 
metrics / indicators / dependencies
 feedbacks with experts and industry
shaping the information and map
 Problems identifications: e.g.
packaging / pig diseases /carcass cleaning

11. 1st approach: indicators and metrics
+ problem solving
MAP indicators and metrics linked to pig
production chain (extract)
• Disability Adjusted Life
Years
• Quality Adjusted Life
Years
• Slope factors
• Acceptable daily intake
• Reference Doses
• Land use
• Water use
• Energy consumption
• Waste production
• Chemicals degradation
• Chemicals /pathogens
fate and transport
• CO2 emission
• Noise
• Worker sick days
/n.incidents
• Animal welfare diseases
• Foodborne diseases

12. Feed
Farm
Slaughterhouse
Production
Packaging
Consumer
additives
recycled material
pesticides
pharmaceuticals
sustainibility (water –land
use)
animal welfare
health and safety
food safety
transport
allergens
nutrition
specific needs (mother/child)
– diseases (e.g. oncologic –
chemotherapy)
contaminations / fraud
Antimicrobial
resistance
Metabolites
Listeria,
Campylobacter,
Toxoplasm, E.coli,..
Salmonella
MRSA
Conservatives
Salt
bedsores
Temperature /
humidity
plastic / paper
Close house
system
Tail cut , bedsores,
gastric ulcers ..
waste/environm.
emissions
CO2 emission

13. As solving a Rubik´s Cube

14. As a system of interactive gears

15. Integrated Food
Security (extract)

16. Case study Prosciutto

17. International collaborations
TOPIC
Mario Negri Research
Institute
QSAR / chemical RA / courses
/databases
Venezia Ricerche Exposure models / Ranking /Decision
support system
ETH Zurich, World Food
system Center
system thinking / sustainibility /organic
agriculture
Defra / Apha /AgroParisTech Fodder /Animal welfare / surveillance
Karolinska HRA /Regulatory RA /Phylosophical RA
/Communication – Risk Perception
Fumagalli Industry –IT (pig
products)
Data – problem solving – alternatives
(e.g. packaging –energy- traceability)

18. QUESTIONS and DISCUSSION
Thank you