In the spotlight

News from the CONffIDENCE project

News from other projects

News highlights

Upcoming Events

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Dear stakeholder,

The CONffIDENCE project team is proud to present the 2 nd edition of the CONffIDENCE e-newsletter. In this newsletter you will find recent developments in the CONffIDENCE project and related information in the area of contaminants in food and feed.

If you want to subscribe to CONffIDENCE News, please fill in the registration form on http://www.conffidence.eu/Stakeholders/registration.php

Best regards,

Jacob de Jong, RIKILT - Institute of Food Safety

CONffIDENCE coordinator

In the spotlight

First Annual meeting of the CONffIDENCE project in March 2009

This first annual meeting, hosted by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), was held on the 5 th and 6 th of March 2009 in Barcelona .

The Plenary meeting of the Consortium was held on Thursday 5 th of March 2009 and was chaired by the Coordinator of the project, Dr. Jacob de Jong. It was attended by more than 45 researchers from all 17 CONffIDENCE partners

Read more about this meeting

News from the CONffIDENCE project

Developing detection methods for organic pollutants; POPs, PFCs, Pesticides

Regarding the POPs, a sensitive LuminexTM based immunoassay to detect benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) in buffer has been developed (IC50=0.3ppb) in RIKILT. In the next step, the performance of assay when used for determination of B[a]P in cereal matrices will be tested..

Regarding the PFCs, a simplified and harmonized analytical procedure for the detection and quantification of Perfluorooctanesulfonate ( PFOS), perfluoro octane sulfonamide (FOSA), and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in food has been developed.

Regarding the pesticides, fast methods are being developed for two classes of pesticides which are not amenable to multi-residue methods: Paraquat/Diguat and Dithiocarbamates

Read more on organic pollutants

Developing detection methods for Veterinary Pharmaceuticals: Coccidiostats, Antibiotics

Regarding the coccidiostats, two main tasks were addressed during the first project year, namely the production of all relevant immunochemical reagents (antibodies and conjugates) and the production of egg and feed test materials. The antibodies produced were characterized by ELISA before being tested in beads coupling experiments for the LuminexTM multiplex assays.

Regarding the antibiotics, a range of test materials containing the target antibiotics have been produced for assay development and validation purposes. Based on the current antibiotic usage trends a range of matrix/ analyte combinations have been produced at concentrations close to, and above the EU MRL/MRPL concentrations. During the last 6 months work has been conducted to extend the scope of application for the Tetrasensor® assay. The assay has been modified to detect target tetracycline compounds including both natural and semi-synthetic analogues; tetracycline (TC), doxcycline (DOX), oxytetracycline (OTC) and chlortetracycline (CTC) in animal feeds, urine and cooked meat in accordance with the legislative limits.

Developing detection methods for Heavy Metals

The WP3 focus on the development of speciation alternatives for the determination of inorganic arsenic and methylmercury in food and feed of marine origin. For arsenic the inorganic forms are the most toxic and for mercury, methylmercury is the most toxic form. Until now the activities in WP3 have been focusing on inorganic arsenic. Two parallel approaches are being pursued:

1. a cytosensor approach using luminescent recombinant bacterial cell biosensors (CYT) and

2. a solid phase extraction approach followed by atomic absorption spectrometry (SPE-AAS).

Developing detection methods for Biotoxins: Alkaloids, Marine Biotoxins, Mycotoxins

Algal blooms have increased in frequency, intensity and geographical distribution over the last two decades. These algal blooms have the ability to produce potent toxins that accumulate in aquatic animals in particular filter feeding bivalves such as mussels, clams and scallops which are then consumed by humans and other animals. T he research group is developing a multiplex biosensor assay capable of detecting a combination of major marine biotoxins.

Read more on biotoxins

News from other projects

ANALYSIS OF ESTROGENIC ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS IN FOOD: STATE-OF-THE-ART AND FUTURE TRENDS

09 - 11 Dec 2008

The main objective of this workshop, was to disseminate and demonstrate to the scientific community the various developments and findings gathered on this subject within the BIOCOP integrated project ( http://www.biocop.org ) conducted in the frame of the 6th FP and coordinated by Pf. Chris Elliott (Queen's University, Belfast). This event, also in connection with the CASCADE network of excellence ( http://www.cascadenet.org ), gathered 16 participants from France , Belgium , The Netherlands, Northern Ireland , Italy , Hungary and Sweden .

Read more about the workshop…

FEED FOR HEALTH: 1 st International workshop

16 - 17 Mar 2009

The new Feed for Health Cost Action (COST Action FA082) of 5 years has been launched 1 st December 2008 . It aims to create a research network concerned with the role of animal nutrition in improving animal health, the role of animal nutrition in designing functional foods for humans and the development of the concepts of feed safety, feed quality and feed functionality, as counterparts of these ideas as they are currently applied foods for humans. The main task of the network will be to promote the acquisition and facilitate the dissemination of knowledge in these areas and encourage cooperation between various groups working in the area. During the Milan workshop several lectures on the feed and food for health, feed safety, feed supply and consumer concerns and perceptions have been given. The objectives of the Con ff idence project has also been presented by Dr Vincent Baeten.

News highlights

THE WORLD MYCOTOXIN FORUM – 5 th CONFERENCE

17 - 18 Nov 2008

The successful conference witnessed the continuous and intensive interest of the scientific community for the multi-faceted subject area of mycotoxins. The section on “mycotoxin analysis tools of tomorrow” showed exciting developments, and included presentations about emerging technologies, such as electrochemical immunosensors and transcriptomics, methodologies developed in the FP6 project BioCop (see www.BioCop.org ) for the determination of trichothecenes, mycotoxins of particular concern in Europe. From another FP6 project MoniQA (see www.MoniQA.org ) some early results were also displayed, i.e. the need for harmonisation of reliable and validated rapid methods for mycotoxin analysis was emphasized. The networking power of the World Mycotoxin Forum ® has contributed to initiatives to explore the possibilities for inter-project cooperation between BioCop, MoniQA and Con ff idence in the area of mycotoxins and some other areas as well.

Read more about the forum…

HOW WERE THE DIOXINS FOUND IN IRISH PRODUCED PIGMEAT?

10 Dec 2008

Irish produced pigmeat has been recently tested positive for the presence of dioxins. It is estimated that approximately 10% of pigmeat from the Republic of Ireland is affected by the current contamination with dioxins. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAFF) discovered the presence of marker PCBs, indicative of dioxin contamination, in pork fat during routine monitoring of the food chain for a range of contaminants. Samples were sent to a laboratory in the UK for further analysis to determine if there were dioxins present. Results have confirmed that dioxins were present in the samples.

Read more about the news...

CON ff IDENCE IN THE NEWS

14 Jan 2009

The project, Conffidence, is being lead by the RIKILT Food Safety Institute in the Netherlands and involves 17 partners from ten European countries including leading food multinationals. The project claims Professor Chris Elliott, director of the Institute of Agri-Food and Land Use at Queen's University Belfast, will provide new ways of detecting a wide variety of chemical contaminants such as pesticides, organic pollutants, antibiotics, heavy metals, plant and natural toxins.

Read more about the news...

RAPID METHODS EUROPE 2009

26 - 28 Jan 2009

The Rapid Methods EUROPE 2009 Conference for Food and Feed Safety and Quality was organized from 26-28 January 2009 in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. The conference was dedicated to the latest developments in rapid methods and instrumentation. New and cutting-edge technologies were presented for an audience of 160 participants from science and industry. The two main topics were microbiology and chemical contaminants detection. The CON ff IDENCE project coordinator, Dr. Jacob de Jong, was invited for a lecture in the plenary starting session of the conference. In this lecture, entitled “Chemical contaminants in food and feed: inexpensive detection for control of exposure (CON ff IDENCE, a new European research project)”, an overview was presented of the rapid methods that will be developed and validated in CON ff IDENCE. During the conference many new contacts were established with representatives from science and industry that are interested to follow the achievements of the project or want to take part in the validation studies.

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP RISK-RANKING SYSTEM FOR FOOD SAFETY

19 Feb 2009

The Institute of Food Technologists has collaborated with the US Food and Drug Administration to create risk assessment software to rank different foods in terms of their relative safety. The researchers hope that the use of the risk ranking system could help policy makers and risk managers to evaluate the potential to establish control points on different foods' paths from farm to fork.

Read publication …

EUROPEAN WINTER CONFERENCE ON PLASMA SPECTROCHEMISTRY

15 - 20 Feb 2009

The 13 th European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry took place in Graz , Austria in February this year with 440 participants from 33 countries. During the conference the latest developments and scientific achievements within plasma spectrochemical analysis using ICPMS and similar techniques for the analysis of trace elements, elemental species and other (bio)molecules containing heteroatom(s) enabling their determination by e.g. ICPMS. The CON ff IDENCE project was presented both in an invited plenary lecture as well as a poster.

Read more about the European Winter Conference

NEWSLETTER LABINFO FOR THE APPROVED FOOD SAFETY LABOARATORIES

06 Apr 2009

The purpose of this newsletter is to enhance the regular transfer to the external laboratories of technical and scientific information that is available in the in-house laboratories of the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC-AFSCA-FAVV) as well as in the European and the national reference laboratories. In combination with the communication groups, this electronic newsletter will become the outstanding tool to make important microbiological and analytical knowledge readily available to users.

Read more about this newsletter...

Upcoming Events

12TH EUCHEMS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHEMISTRY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

14 - 17 June 2009

The programme for the conference organised in Stockholm - Sweden is aimed to give broad coverage of science related to chemicals and the environment. The topics will be addressed in a set of separate sessions covering specific chemical issues with an interdisciplinary approach. The programme includes analytical methodology, atmospheric chemistry, sustainable chemistry, inorganic and organic environmental chemistry, chemical environmental toxicology, in-silico tools in chemical risk assessment, chemistry in art and monument conservation.

7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MOLLUSCAN SHELLFISH SAFETY

14 - 19 June 2009

The programme for the conference organised in Nantes - France covers epidemiology, risk assessment, toxin monitoring, analytical methods for use in microbiology, physico-chemistry and biochemistry, consumer health protection, farming area management, post-harvest treatment, and macro-economic analysis of the repercussions of shellfishfarming crises. Round-tables will be organised to discuss “hot topics”.

ADVANCED STUDY COURSE VII: OPTICAL CHEMICAL SENSORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND FOOD SAFETY

26 Aug - 03 Sept 2009

ASCOS (Advanced Study Course on Optical Chemical Sensors) is an ECTS accredited European initiative to establish an education, discussion and contact platform for young researchers working in the strongly growing field of optical chemical sensors, besides the traditional conferences. The next course will be organised in Madrid - Spain .

WORLDWIDE MYCOTOXIN REDUCTION IN FOOD AND FEED CHAINS

09 - 11 Sept 2009

The aim of this conference organised in Tulln/Vienna - Austria is to facilitate discussion and collaboration between scientists, opinion leaders, decision-makers and industry in the specific research area of mycotoxin reduction in the food and feed chains.

46TH CONGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETIES OF TOXICOLOGY

13 - 16 Sept 2009

The German Toxicology Society (GT) it is a great pleasure to invite you to the 46th Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology in Dresden - Germany . Your participation at the congress implies attending the biggest European toxicology event which is focused on expertise, qualification, innovation and education. You will get in touch with experts, potential business partners and clients as well as the offspring. The EUROTOX scientific programme committee has prepared an attractive scientific programme which covers all important and relevant topics in the field of toxicology.

3RD INTERNATIONAL FEED SAFETY CONFERENCE - METHODS AND CHALLENGES

06 – 07 Oct 2009

The 3rd International FEED SAFETY Conference will be organised by RIKILT – Institute of Food Safety in Wageningen, The Netherlands in October 2009 in the framework of the SAFEED-PAP project.

4TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON RECENT ADVANCES IN FOOD ANALYSIS

04 - 06 Nov 2009

NEW TRENDS IN FOOD ANALYSIS FROM LC MS TECHNOLOGIES TO UPLC

23 - 24 Nov 2009

AOAC Europe and ASFILAB are proud to present you with the most advanced findings in Food Analysis, and have invited key speakers in the field. Amongst the areas covered by the 2009 workshop organised in Paris , some key topics have been selected: vitamins, drug residues, allergens, mycotoxins, and Pesticides.

This work is funded by the European Commission, under the FP7 Food Quality and Safety Priority, within the framework of the Collaborative Project CONffIDENCE – 211326 – entitled “Contaminants in Food and Feed: Inexpensive DEtection for Control of Exposure”. This project is carried out by a consortium coordinated by RIKILT – Institute of Food Safety (NL) and includes 17 partners. The information reflects the authors views, the European Commission is not liable for any use of the information contained therein.

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CONffIDENCE News is provided as a service to stakeholders of the CONffIDENCE project. The CONffIDENCE consortium cannot accept any liability for its accuracy or content.