FOODINTEGRITY - FP7 Coordinator

Comprising of 60 participants from 18 European countries and one from China, FoodIntegrity's key focus is be to consolidate, harmonise and mobilise the European capability on food authentication to ensure consumer confidence and protect European added value. The 5 year (2014-2018) €12M project will reduce the current barriers to data sharing and utilisation that is crucial to combating food fraud by supplying methods and tools that will address both enforcement and industry needs. The project will not only seek to enhance early warning capabilities, but working with industry, will develop methods, systems and processes that will assure the quality, authenticity and safety of the food chain.

AUTHENT-NET H2020 Coordinator

It is acknowledged that historically anti-food fraud capability within Europe has not been consolidated and lacks the coordination and support structures available to those working in food safety.  Authent-Net comprises a core group of 19 participants from 10 MS, 1 NGO (non-government organisation) and the US, who are either national research funding bodies; experts in food authenticity, and/or experts in transnational funding mechanisms. 

The profile of food fraud has never been higher than at the present time in Europe. With diminishing government budgets, there is a clear need for better cohesion and cooperation between funding bodies in Member States in order to work more strategically together and reduce duplication. Authent-Net is a 2-year H2020 Concerted Action that aims to fulfil that need. From its start in April 2016, Authent-Net has been engaging with and “recruiting” funding bodies across Europe. Stock taking of research and surveillance activities, the funding landscape, mechanisms and priorities across 13 Member States has taken place. This information is currently being uploaded into a dynamic and sustainable European information platform, named the Food Authenticity Research Network Hub (FARNHub). This web-based portal, which will soon be accessible to all, provides users with a single interface related to most aspects of food authenticity, including papers and documents (scientific or other), ongoing projects, online databases, an overview of funding bodies with contact points, news stories, analytical methods and regulations.

OLEUM FP7 Partner

Europe is currently the largest producer of olive oil, accounting for more than 70% of the world’s production. Non-EU countries are now starting to expand their domestic production, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the global olive oil market. This increased competitiveness,combined with expanding markets and a lack of efficient and harmonised analytical methods for detecting olive oil fraud, has led to significant weaknesses that can be exploited by counterfeiters. OLEUM is a 4-year H2020 project coordinated by Prof. Tullia Gallina Toschi of the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna, Italy. Twenty partners,covering fifteen countries, bring together competences from food analysis, food legislation, industrial equipment engineering, bioinformatics, communication and knowledge exchange. The overall objective of OLEUM is to better guarantee olive oil quality and authenticity by empowering detection and fostering prevention of olive oil fraud. Improvements in the quality, safety and authenticity of olive oils will boost consumer confidence and ultimately enhance the competitiveness of the EU olive oil market. 

Designing the OLEUM Network - one of the strategic objectives of OLEUM is to develop and support a worldwide community of proficient analytical laboratories involved in the analysis of olive oil, therefore establishing a wide OLEUM Network. Please contact us at OLEUM@fera.co.uk, if you are interested in joining.

An integrated platform for rapid testing of pathogens in the meat/poultry supply chain

This project will develop a system for rapid detection of hazardous bacteria in foodstuffs. The system is highly innovative, and will be easy to use by food handlers, and farm workers, without needing to send samples to third parties for analysis. This system will help to improve food safety and reduce infections in humans, which will increase consumer confidence in the UK food supply. This work is funded by Innovate UK.