Danish Department of Food Science to be majorly represented at the World Exposition 2010 in Shanghai

Five EU funded projects have been invited to give presentations on results and achievements at a seminar on "Research for healthy life" at the World Exposition 2010 in Shanghai, China. Two out of these five projects; PathogenCombat and Q-PorkChains, are coordinated from Dept. of Food Science, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

PathogenCombat’s aim is to reduce food borne diseases in Europe. This is pursued through control and prevention of present and future pathogens at cellular and molecular level throughout the food chain. The background for the project is that when considering food safety, the fighting of pathogens is of utmost importance to the consumer in order to guarantee food safety. To approach the omnipresent threats from new and emerging pathogens the pan-European collaboration known as PathogenCombat has been formed to establish novel platforms for fighting pathogens in the entire food chain.

Although food production in Europe is generally very high-tech and has never been more stringently controlled, consumers still suffer from food borne diseases. The significant

investments in food safety by governments and the food industry have not diminished the problem. Besides being of fundamental importance to the consumer, fighting pathogens is also of imperative significance to the food industry and economy, as impact on trade and competitiveness is substantial.

A range of advanced platforms has been developed to investigate the survival and behaviour of pathogens in the food chain. The platforms, of which several have been used for the first time in food safety studies, comprise bioimaging, laser tweezers, phage display/convergent evolution, functional mammalian cell models, functional genomics, microarray technology and a management platform which is focused on food safety systems and covers technological as well as managerial aspects. With these platforms in operation, PathogenCombat has produced and transferred new knowledge and methods to the food industry and regulatory agencies which are aimed at preventing food borne diseases of microbial origin.

Q-PorkChains with the title "Improving quality of pork and pork products for the consumer" aim at developing innovative high quality pork products in sustainable production systems with low environmental impact.

Bacon, salami, pork and all its products account for nearly half the meat eaten by Europeans. Europe needs to stay competitive in this considerable market, but its pork production is static while that of China, the USA and other countries is rising. The quality of pork and its products is a crucial issue for consumers who want them to be guaranteed and traceable from farm to fork and back again. Meanwhile producers want economic and environmental sustainability. The whole European pork production chain needs new tools to be able to meet these demands.

 

Quality of pork and pork products is a complex and dynamic area and it involves the total production chain from fork-to-farm. Q-PorkChains will develop innovative technologies to

improve pork products so that they meet consumer expectations on quality, nutrition and convenience, develop new molecular control tools that can be applied in pork production, develop new ways to predict how production systems affect pork quality, safety and animal welfare and increase integrated and sustainable management of the pork production chain.

 

By focusing on these issues, the project will meet the growing consumer demand for healthy high quality pork products produced with regard to animal welfare, add extra value to pork products to the benefit of the producers, protect the interests of consumers and society in high quality food and help ensuring the sustainability of pork production.

A comprehensive dissemination programme is being performed including training of SMEs and other industry partners in the new techniques and strategies developed by

Q-PorkChains as well as the development of high quality E-learning resources for use in both higher education and industry.

 

The "Research For Healthy Life" seminar at the World Expo will present contributions from several high-level speakers, including Bernard Van Goethem (acting Deputy Director General of DG SANCO), Antonio Di Giulio (Head of Unit "Food - Health - Well-being" - Directorate General for Research), Riitta Maijala (Director Risk Assessment, EFSA - European Food Safety Agency, Elke Anklam (European Commission's Joint Research Centre - JRC), Huailin Li (President of the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine), Yu Tawai (Director General Food Safety - Office Import/Export - AQSIQ).

The three remaining EU funded projects to be presented at the World Expo 2010 are: MoniQA (Monitoring and Qualtiy Assurance in the total food supply chain), VEG-i-Trade (Impact of climate change and globalisation on safety of fresh produce), and FACET (Exposure assessment to food additives, flavourings and FCM). PathogenCombat and Q-PorkChains were kindly invited to the expo by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health & Consumers (DG SANCO).

For more information on PathogenCombat, Q-PorkChains and the World Expo, please see:
www.pathogencombat.com
www.q-porkchains.org
http://ec.europa.eu/health/news/shanghai_en.htm
http://www.euatshanghai2010.eu/
http://www.shanghaiexpo.eu/
http://en.expo2010.cn/