Agent-based modeling for foodborne disease spreading using NetLogo
- Authors
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Camelia Ungureanu
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, 1-7 Gheorghe Polizu St., 011061 Bucharest, Romania
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Silviu RAILEANU
Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Science, National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, 313 Splaiul Independentei, Sector 6, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
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Iulia-Lidia Iacob
Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Science, National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, 313 Splaiul Independentei, Sector 6, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
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Alexandra Constantinescu
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, 1-7 Gheorghe Polizu St., 011061 Bucharest, Romania
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Ana Iulia Stefan
Regina Maria-Dental Hospital, Cozia 71 Street, 300425 Timisoara, Romania
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Maria Teodora Ștefan
Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, Splaiul Independentei No. 169, Sector 5, 050098 Bucharest, Romania
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- Abstract
- Foodborne diseases represent an important public health problem, characterized by the rapid emergence of many cases associated with a common source of contamination. Understanding the mechanisms of spread of these infections is essential for assessing epidemiological risk and for substantiating prevention and control measures. This paper presents an agent-based model, developed in the NetLogo, for simulating a foodborne disease outbreak generated by the consumption of microbiologically contaminated cheese. The model integrates the principles of multi-agent systems modelling according to the ODD (Overview, Design, Concepts, Details) protocol and the SEIR (Susceptible–Exposed–Infected–Recovered) epidemiological model, allowing the individual representation of consumers, their interactions and exposure to the source of contamination. The simulations performed highlight the influence of the distribution of the contaminated product, population mobility and epidemiological parameters on the evolution of the outbreak. The results demonstrate the advantages of agent-based modeling for analyzing epidemiological processes and for evaluating different scenarios of the spread of foodborne disease in a controlled virtual environment.
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- Published
- 2026-09-29
- Issue
- Vol. 28 No. 3 (2026)
- Section
- Articles
- License
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Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Control Engineering and Applied Informatics
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
