EU funds projects to improve food safety

“Food quality and safety are major concerns for European citizens and it is great to see relevant new results coming out of EU-funded research”​ said European science and research commissioner Janez Potocnik. “Basing decisions about food on scientific evidence benefits consumers. Measures proposed by researchers from EU projects have been tested for validity and reliability and can be used on farms and in food production.”​

One such project, named Biocop, is aimed at developing new methods of detecting multiple chemical contaminants in foods. Potentially harmful contaminants range from pesticide and hormone residues to heavy metals and illegal growth promoters.

At present, tests for foreign chemicals are laborious and expensive because they are carried out individually, said researchers in describing the project.

"Whilst advances in biotechnology offer the possibility to make these essential tests cheaper and faster, the procedures need substantial development before they can be used for routine monitoring,"​ said Chris Elliott, one of the Biocop researchers. "BioCop aims to use new technologies to develop a new range of tools to screen for multiple chemical contaminants rather than analysing them individually. Also, these new systems will measure the effects of the contaminants rather than single target concentrations."​

The EU has given €9.6m to the five-year project, which involves researchers in the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Finland, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Lithuania, Germany and Ireland. More information on the project is available online at www.biocop.org.

Cascade is another EU-funded project targeting chemical contaminants in foods. The project is devoted to creating a network of research, risk assessment and education on chemicals as contaminants in the food chain.

The Cascade network aims to collect fragmented European research into the health risks posed by chemical pollutants in food. Researchers are studying how much contamination is absorbed by the body and whether chemicals could react with each other in a normal diet. As a result, knowledge gaps are identified and communication of evidence improved.

"Increased consumer concern about toxic chemicals contaminating the food chain is understandable,"​ said Sari Mäkelä, one of the researchers. "However, it is not yet clear how justified this anxiety is due to the multidisciplinary nature of the risk."​

The project focuses on ‘endocrine disruptor’ chemicals, which affect hormone receptors in the cell nucleus and accumulate in both the environment and the body.

"Much research needs to be carried out in order to understand how these chemicals cause health risks and the effects of exposure, whilst taking into account certain variables including sex, age and diet,"​ Mäkelä said. "Effective communication of the results is essential to challenge the preconceived idea that research institutes operate independently and therefore the science-society office plays an important role."​

Part of the €14.4m in EU funding for the project will be used to train 10 young researchers. Cascade has allocated funds for ten PhD students to work within the network.

The project's researchers are based in Sweden, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Slovakia. More information is available at www.cascadenet.org.

Heatox, another project, is devoted to research into the formation and health risks of acrylamide in food.

Little is known about acrylamide. However, it is thought to induce cancer in animals, damage nerves and impair male fertility. In April 2002, Swedish scientists produced results demonstrating disturbingly high levels of acrylamide in certain cooked foods, sparking off concerns among regulators and consumers.

The European Commission responded to the findings by generating a database on all research activities. The World Health Organisation has additionally developed an international network of researchers. Diet is thought to contribute to about 30 per cent of some cancers and the increasing dependence on processed food means that research is essential, said researcher Karl-Erik Hellenäs.

"The Heatox project aims to fill the knowledge gaps with regards to acrylamide and other substances that are formed during the processing and cooking of starchy foods and to determine the risk faced by consumers," he said. "The project also involves consumer groups and communication specialists who concentrate on effective and appropriate dissemination of the results to consumers and the food industry."

The €4.2m in funding provided by the EU is being used for research conducted in Sweden, Austria, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Chile. For more information go to www.heatox.org.

Another €14.4m in EU funding has been given to the Med-Vet-Net project, which is developing a research network aimed at helping prevent and control zoonoses.

Med-Vet-Net aims to create a network that can bring together the results of the tens of thousands of samples that are collected annually from farms, food industry and hospitals by different institutes. The network would allow scientists to compare and integrate the data into their studies.

Zoonoses are diseases that can be transmitted between animals and people and they are responsible for a number of serious health problems. Almost two-thirds of human pathogens are zoonotic and a large number of them, such as campylobacter or salmonella, are food-borne and carried by domestic livestock.

"Changes in animal production, environment or human society tend to increase the threat from zoonoses and previously unknown diseases can emerge rapidly,"​ said researcher Anne Ridley. "Whilst all scientists agree that outbreaks can have rapid and serious consequences, control is often hampered by the divisions between medical and veterinary science."​

The research is being conducted in France, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Poland, UK, Sweden, Hungary and Germany. More information is available at www.medvetnet.org .

Meanwhile the Safe Foods project targets improving risk assessment methods and risk analysis practices for food produced by different production practices and different breeding technologies.

"The role of regulatory organisations in managing risks in the food chain is also being explored,"​ said researcher Ariane König. "In addition, public information and education is needed to restore confidence in effective risk analysis practises in food, including nutrition and labelling issues."​

EU funds of €11.46m is being used to fund research in the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Finland, Poland, Italy, South Africa, China, Ireland, Latvia, Hungary, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Greece, Belgium, France, Norway, Portugal and the Russian Federation. More information is available at www.safefoods.nl.

Replace, another project, is devoted to using the results of the screening of 500 plant samples to suggest alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters, such as antibiotics. The project aims to demonstrate that natural feedstuffs and supplements taken from plants could replace these antibiotics in farming, using previous research carried out on ruminants.

"This work suggests that it is possible to improve the content of conjugated linoleic acids in beef, lamb and dairy products, which offer a number of health benefits to humans,"​ said researcher John Wallace.

Funded with a contribution of €2.87m from the EU, the research involves the UK, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Slovak Republic, Norway, Poland, Switzerland and Ireland. More information is available at www.replace-eu.com.

Other projects are devoted to improving animal welfare and improving animal health.