Issue 3 of the MoniQA newsletter covers the following topics:
 
  In Perspective: MoniQA and Food Authenticity

As a consequence of globalisation, a great many foods are traded around the world, underlining a necessity for tools that ensure foods are safe, high-quality, and authentic. Recently, food authenticity has become increasingly important . Any food policy that aims to protect consumers from fraudulent products and enable them to make informed choices needs to be able to identify: (1) foods that do not meet a legally-protected description; (2) substitution of premium ingredients with cheaper alternatives; (3) undeclared processing (e.g. irradiation, freezing); (4) food adulteration (e.g. water, starch) and (5) incorrect origin (e.g. geographic, species or method of production).

The MoniQA Food Authenticity Working Group led by Marina Carcea, INRAN (IT), which consists of experts in authenticity from different scientific backgrounds and countries, has identified eight groups of commodities (i.e. cereals and cereal products, dairy products, rice, fish and fish products, honey, vegetable oils and fats, meat and meat products, wine and alcoholic beverages) where analytical methods and harmonised procedures addressing food authenticity are most needed.

Read the full article at http://www.moniqa.org/authenticity-intro and learn more about the WG at http://www.moniqa.org/authenticity.


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  Industry Corner: MoniQA analyses use of HACCP systems

The MoniQA HACCP survey focused on the current use and future needs of analytical methods including rapid methods and test kits as well as information-communication-technology (ICT) systems. The majority of the 661 respondents from 17 countries considered that the introduction of rapid methods including test kits has contributed to improved food safety management.

For more results go to http://www.moniqa.org/haccp.


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  Research Frontiers: Mass Spectrometry or ELISA for Allergen Detection - that is the Question!

Actually the answer is likely to be "...mass spectrometry and ELISA". Both technologies have advantages and disadvantages that make them more suited to specific tasks. It is likely that mass spectrometry techniques will, in the short term, confirm rather than replace ELISA results at least until validated methods are produced and equipment is more readily available to analysts.ts extremely difficult.

Read the full story at http://www.moniqa.org/ms-elisa.

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  Policy Monitor: MoniQA socio-economists analyse stock market response to food safety regulations

Mario Mazzocchi, Maddalena Ragona (University of Bologna, Italy) and Melanie Fritz (University of Bonn, Germany) analysed the impact of the European Community Regulation 1881/2006 (ECR) and its enforcement in England through the Contaminants in Food Regulations 2007 (ENR). The review looked at the stock returns of 30 companies listed in the London Stock Exchange to check for market reactions.

Read the results at http://www.moniqa.org/stockmarket.


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  Food Safety Web Spotlight

BioCop Project: Monitoring for Chemical Contaminant monitoring in foodstuffs is an important and complex issue. BioCop's innovative techniques will screen for multiple chemical contaminants. More info: http://www.biocop.org/

CONffIDENCE: aims to improve food safety in Europe with the development of faster and more cost-efficient methods for the detection of a wide range of chemical contaminants in different food and feed commodities. More info: http://www.conffidence.eu/


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  Events & Training

Visit MoniQA at the following events:

For more events go to http://www.moniqa.org/eventlist

MoniQA Food Scientist Training (FST)

Check out http://www.moniqa.org/training for reviews of the following MoniQA Food Scientist Training and to sign up for future training sessions:
  • MoniQA FST - Food Safety and Food Allergen 22-24 April 2010, Wuhan, China

  • Combined MoniQA FST on "Reference materials and method validation in food safety assurance" and "Communication Training" 15-19 March 2010, Vienna, Austria
Upcoming MoniQA FST include:
  • "Train the trainer: a practical introduction to e-learning" 1-2 July Vienna, Austria

  • "PCR methods for the detection and quantification of food-pathogens" 13-17 September, 2010, Plovdiv, Bulgaria


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  MoniQA Project News

HCTU cooperates with CNR-ISPA and Campden BRI

As a result of their activities within MoniQA, Michele Solfrizzo (CNR-ISPA), Umran Uygun (HCTU) and Hamit Koksel (HCTU) have worked together on a research project examining the effect of processing on Fusarium toxins. Eren Numanoglu, a PhD student at HCTU, visited CNR-ISPA in 2009. As a direct result of that training experience a mycotoxin laboratory has been opened at HCTU. Since 2008 Anton Alldrick (Campden BRI) and Hamit Koksel (HCTU) have also established an excellent working relationship with the Turkish baking industry with a number of very successful MoniQA knowledge-transfer workshops.

Multilingual MoniQA dissemination at the local level

Many MoniQA dissemination activities take place on the local level involving our partners and their regional colleagues. In the last year, information about MoniQA (flyer, factsheets, press packs) has been translated into several additional languages including Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Indonesian. MoniQA information is available in 13 languages at http://www.moniqa.org/multilingual

A summary of the MoniQA dissemination activities is available at http://www.moniqa.org/dissemination-p3

MoniQA featured at World Exhibition in Shanghai

Together with only 4 other EU funded projects MoniQA results and achievements were highlighted in a seminar on "Research for Healthy Life", organised by the EC's Directorate-General for Health & Consumers at the World Exhibition in Shanghai. More information: http://www.moniqa.org/shanghai

MoniQA Results in Year 3

In the third year of MoniQA, network activities focused on strengthening European integration (through sharing of information, expertise and infrastructures); transforming network achievements into tangible outputs; disseminating relevant information; and providing training, which benefit the consortium and stakeholders alike. Several new research agreements and project proposals have originated from MoniQA during 2009-2010. For more detailed information go to http://www.moniqa.org/results


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  Ask MoniQA: I have heard about listeria on the news recently. What is that?

Recently there have been several Listeria monocytogenes outbreaks around the world. In Europe, the most notable occurrence - in a traditional surface-ripened cheese called "Quargel" - caused the death of several people in Austria. The MoniQA Emerging Issues and Microbiological Contaminants Working Groups have produced an overview which is available at http://www.moniqa.org/listeria.


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  About MoniQA                   

MoniQA (Monitoring and Quality Assurance in the Food Supply Chain) is funded by the European Union. It is a Network of Excellence aiming to make food safer by harmonising worldwide food quality and safety monitoring and control strategies.

- MoniQA focuses on validation of and setting performance criteria/requirements for methods used to analyse foods and food products for safety and quality with the main focus being on rapid methods and their applicability and reliability in routine testing.

- MoniQA seeks to establish long-lasting cooperation amongst leading research institutes, industrial partners and the small- and medium-sized businesses in food and retail in order to ensure food quality and safety for consumers.

- Researchers from around the world have been involved right from the start in 2007 and the network is constantly growing.

- In the long-term the MoniQA consortium hopes that the project will form the basis of a sustainable global network of food safety and quality experts. The project is coordinated by ICC.

Join us!

MoniQA offers associated partnerships to interested organisations, SMEs and institutions. In principle Associated Partners will benefit from

  • Favourable conditions for participation in MONIQA events
  • Consideration for partnering in new projects
  • Involvement and selective invitation to expert panels
  • Voluntary participation in the "Integration" and "Dissemination" programmes
  • Future offers (subscriber fees are likely) include:
    • participation in exchange and mobility programmes
    • access to the MoniQA databases
For more information see also the FAQ section on the MoniQA homepage www.moniqa.org Interested? Contact:

MoniQA Project Manager
Marcella Gross, ICC
marcella.gross@icc.or.at


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  Disclaimer                   

This newsletter is published by the MoniQA consortium. Every effort has been made to ensure that information is accurate at the time of publication but no liability will be accepted for losses caused by inaccurate information.
MoniQA is supported by the European Commission (www.ec.europa.eu)

Newsletter editorial team:
Responsible for content: RTDS
Responsible for layout: ICC
Editorial input by IFR

Dissemination Manager:
Daniel Spichtinger
spichtinger@rtd-services.com

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