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CEB involved in EFSA project for food contamination Back

Thursday, 9/28/2017   
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The Centre of Biological Engineering (CEB) of the School of Engineering of the University of Minho (EEUM) will develop a methodology that detects fungi in food. The MYCHIF project is funded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The CEB of EEUM is the only Portuguese entity in the group that is developing a new methodology capable of analysing the risk of contamination in food and animal feed. The focus of the project, funded by EFSA, aims to develop a method that evaluates the presence of mycotoxins – toxic substances produced by fungi – in human food and animal feed, and evaluate its effects on human, animal and environmental health. The new methodology aims at answering to situations currently not covered by the EFSA, and will focus on risk assessment due to the presence of mixtures of mycotoxins in food. One of the key points of the MYCHIF project, which will be based on an exhaustive revision of published papers and research studies, will also be the prevention of future exposure risks, resulting from climate changes.


Several study cases will be analysed, which were selected with the objective of covering the entire food chain and considering various types of contamination. The project also plans to analyse plants, which can transmit the fungi to the animal and, through it, pass on the contamination to milk. Contamination through food processing will also be analysed in the case of human food.

MYCHIF – considered an innovative project by EFSA – will enable progress in preventing food contamination, while presenting a strong sustainability component in itself, as it will contribute to reduce the food waste in production at primary level.

Apart from the EEUM, represented by CEB, the MYCHIF project brings together another six European entities, namely Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and the Università degli Studi di Parma, in Italy, Queen's University Belfast, in United Kingdom, the Istituto di Biometeorologia del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, in Italy, and the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, in France.

The research team is composed of Armando Venâncio, Associate Professor of the Department of Biological Engineering (DEB) of the EEUM, Nelson Lima and Ana Paula Gonçalves, both researchers from CEB.

+ info: https://www.ceb.uminho.pt/amg/Projects/Details/6059
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