The EU meat industry is in the process of adapting itself more strongly than previously to the demands and needs for quality products. From the scientific view there are three parallel innovation challenges: 1. the chain inversion, that means the transition from a supply to a demand driven supply chain and self-regulation, 2. the support of new sustainable technologies in food safety control systems, 3. the establishment of a knowledge infrastructure for the development and implementation of technologies and new structures as an integral part of the transition. QUARISMAs goal is to stimulate more sustainable development in the European meat sector, and simultaneous, to mobilise the scientific knowledge needed to bring this about. This will be achieved mainly by collaborating in interdisciplinary cross-boarder research teams to develop a new knowledge infrastructure to translate knowledge questions from practice projects into research questions and vice versa. Collaborations between two universities and two private organisations in the meat sector supported by a public-private-partnership organisation will be established to come to grips with this complex of problems. The join intersectoral program will synthesize and place into perspective the seemingly wide divergent topics of Chain Management, Quality and Information Management, as well as Food Safety and Risk Management into a cohesive focus to maintain the highest food safety and quality for the consumers benefit. The transfer of knowledge will be further enhanced by the research fellowships of staff members and researchers in five partner institutions from Germany and the Netherlands. This novel interdisciplinary research team will lead this proposal to achieve scientific as well as social goals and will potentially set new trends to establish European research in quality and risk management as having a world-leading role in this field with reference of the meat sector.