Rapid Methods Europe - RME2014 (www.bastiaanse-communication.com/rme2014) takes place in Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands, 31 March - 2 April 2014. RME2014 is the 9th in a series of conferences dedicated to innovations and breakthroughs in microbiological and chemical analysis of food, feed and water. This series aims to further strengthen the academia-industry relations and to further disseminate advanced research towards practical applications in food, feed and water analysis. MoniQA organised a technical session at the conference on 2 April 2014 and will also hold its annual General Assembly at the end of the conference 13:00-15:00 on 2 April 2014. For details please consult the conference programme at www.bastiaanse-communication.com/rme2014/cp.pdf.
RME2014 presents new and cutting-edge technologies focusing on multi-target screening, lower detection limits, wider range of matrices and shorter time, with an eye toward looking for unknown compounds and moving tests out of the laboratory. Conference topics include, but are not limited to ...
... for microorganisms (indicator and spoilage microorganisms, pathogens), contaminants (due to contamination, cultivation practices or production processes), allergens, GMOs and veterinary drug residues, as well as for authenticity/adulteration and forensic identification.
As a comprehensive overview RME2014 offers an excellent way to network and to share ideas, providing a reference source for anyone wishing to gain insight into the latest developments in microbial and chemical analysis of food, feed and water ensuring safety and quality.
Roland Poms, Secretary General of ICC and MoniQA Association will lecture on "Reference Materials and Method Validation in Food Safety Assurance" at BOKU - University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, Vienna, Austria. Apart from enrolled MSc and PhD students, ICC and MoniQA members have access to a maximum of 10 places. If interested, please register by email to office [at] icc [dot] or [dot] at. The lectures, excursions and workshop activities are on 5 afternoons. Invited speakers from international standardisation organisations will enrich the workshop programme and give a global perspective and the value of international standards.
The aim of the workshop on "Reference materials and method validation in food safety assurance" is to describe the issues and challenges involved in the international comparability and validity of analytical results in the assurance of food safety and quality. On the basis of practical examples the focus will be on current hot topics, such as mycotoxins, food allergens, pathogenic micro-organisms, GMOs, etc., the analytical possibilities (including rapid methods), and the corresponding EU regulations. Additionally, an overview of international standardization bodies and examples of international validation studies will be given.
More infos: www.moniqa.org/events/workshop_rm_food_safety_boku_march_2014
Roland Poms, Secretary General of MoniQA Association, will attend the Info Day on 2014 Horizon 2020 calls for proposals - Societal Challenge 2 and LEIT Biotechnology (ec.europa.eu/research/bioeconomy/news-events/news/20140117_en.htm). After MoniQA's successful completion of its Network of Excellence in 2012 and its foundation as legal entity in 2011, MoniQA has been directly or indirectly involved in various project proposals. The most recent success was partnering in iFAAM (2013-2017). With the available expertise and experience with attracting EU funding for collaborative research projects and involvement in EU’s Framework Programmes (FP4-FP7) as Coordinator (ECC 2002, MoniQA), as Workpackage Leader or Partner (HEALTHGRAIN, ISEKI, CommNET, PlantLibra, Connect4Action, iFAAM, MyNewGut, MycoSpec, EMPORA) or as Member of the Advisory Board (MycoRed, DREAM, TradeIT), at the MoniQA Secretariat (c/o ICC Headquarters, Vienna, Austria), MoniQA will again facilitate and/or partner in collaborative project proposals with Horizon 2020. As a special service for MoniQA Members, Roland Poms and the MoniQA Secretariat in Vienna will support members’ initiatives and provide advice in partner search or direct requests to programme officers.
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly € 80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) - in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market. For more information please contact the official website at ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020.
MoniQA members and stakeholders might have special interest in the following areas:
MoniQA will be happy to discuss your ideas and proposals. Members of MoniQA enjoy additional privileged information and services useful for project proposals and collaborations. If you are not a member of MoniQA yet, please refer to www.moniqa.org/news/renew_moniqa_membership and choose your preferred involvement in MoniQA.
Roland Ernest Poms, General Secretary of ICC and MoniQA, received a teaching grant from the Austrian and Thai governments and following an invitation of Thammasat University he gave lectures to Master and PhD students in various areas of food safety between 9-19 December 2013. During the educational programme entitled "Meeting Global Food Safety Challenges" in total more than 100 students attended the lectures. Additionally, two workshops were co-organised by MoniQA, ICC, Thammasat University and the BioTech Center Thailand. The two days workshop including theoretical and practical training 1) "Effective Mycotoxin Management" at the Biotech Center Thailand on 11-12 December 2013, and 2) "Allergen-free Food: Market Opportunity and Process Control Plans for Food Manufacturer" at Cha-da Hotel, Bangkok organised by the Department of Food Science and Technology, Thammasat University, 17-18 December 2013, attracted a total of 100 participants from academia and industry. Univ. Prof. hc. Dr. Roland Ernest Poms also discussed possible future collaborations between BOKU Vienna and Thammasat University Bangkok and issues in relation to strengthening the existing ties between the two universities and the bilateral research and exchange activities between Thailand and Austria.
On behalf of MoniQA Association I would like to thank you for your trust and collaboration in the past year. We can look back to another successful year in MoniQA, thanks to the great collaboration of the global MoniQA network of members and stakeholders.
Some highlights in 2013 were:
ICC and MoniQA will support the TRADEIT project by disseminating project results and inviting bakeries to participate at training events offered by the project free-of-charge in various locations and in local languages all around Europe. TRADEIT is funded under FP7 KBBE.2013.2.3-02 Grant Agreement No KBBE-613776.
It is accepted that resource limitation precludes majority of Traditional Food Producing SMEs from participating in innovative and entrepreneurial activities. The TRADEIT project aims to address this through an ambitious program of events and supports for the Traditional Agri-Food sector which will through the promotion and facilitation of Collaboration, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Knowledge and Technology Transfer will increase the competitiveness and inter-regional advantage of participating Traditional Food Producing SMEs.
Acknowledging that time requirements and language barriers frequently disincentives SME participation in training and dissemination events TRADEIT will establish and pilot 9 TRADEIT Hubs in a total of 8 partner countries: Ireland, UK, Spain (2 Hubs), Portugal, Italy, Germany, Poland and Finland. Each Hub will form a sub-network, defined by regional and language with an associated network of local and regional traditional food producers and linked to the relevant National Technology Platform, Food for Life and other national food and drink and policy organisations. A TRADEIT Advisor is allocated to each Hub to co-ordinate regional events and act as an SME liaison.
Following on from the successful series of Workshops held immediately prior to the recent Sessions of CCMAS the IAM/MoniQA Workshop organisers were asked by delegates to further develop a number of issues of concern. In particular they were asked to consider whether it would be appropriate to develop a Workshop to discuss Sampling issues in the light of new approaches and exisitng Codex Standards. This has become particularly important given the increasing awareness of sampling uncertainty and at the same time confusion about its assessment and procedures to take appropriate and representative samples in diffferent commercial and regulatory environments. Starting as an exlusive offer for delegates of Codex Alimentarius these workshops have also become part of Continuous Professional Development for policy makers and decision makers in food businesses. Please find a draft programme at www.moniqa.org/events/workshop_budapest_march_2014.
The workshop is organised jointly by IAM and MoniQA. It will be held at the Ramada Plaza Budapest Hotel, now with a new name: The Aquincum Hotel Budapest, Árpád fejedelem útja 94, Budapest 1036, Hungary (www.aquincumhotel.com). This workshop is free for CCMAS delegates and members of IAM, discounts apply for MoniQA members and students. Registration is required by all participants and speakers. Please register online at www.moniqa.org/events/workshop_budapest_march_2014/register.
Please mind that only a limited number of places are available and that registrations will be considered on a first-come-first-serve basis. We are looking forward to seeing you in Budapest in 2014!
The training is organised by the University of Food Technologies and the MoniQA Association. Participants will learn about the common food pathogens and the available rapid methods for microbiological analysis of foods. The FST (food scientist training) will provide relevant theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience on PCR methods (classical PCR and real-time PCR) for the detection and quantification of pathogens in food samples.This year the training will expand its focus to mycotoxins in foods – producing microorganisms and factors contributing to mycotoxin contaminations, methods for de-toxification and the regulatory frame.
Taking place at the University of Food Technologies, Plovdiv the workshop will be held in Bulgarian language and will consist in two parts:
Theoretical part:
Practical part:
MoniQA and Thammast University would like to invite you to attend the workshop
"Allergen-free Food: Market Opportunity and Process Control Plans for Food Manufacturer" taking place at the Bangkok Cha-da Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand from 17-18 December 2013.
Workshop objectives:
Rationale and Background:
Allergen-free food market is a global rapid-growing segment. The largest share of allergen-free food product value sales comes from North America and Europe. Analysts estimated annual growth rate of allergen-free food market in the US. being more than 10% and product sales in the year 2018 being more than US$ 6.2 billion. The fast growing market of allergen-free food is due to not only an increase in numbers of food allergy individuals but also allergen-free food has been considered to be healthy food.
Foods identified as allergens are wheat, milk, egg, peanut, soybean, fish, seafood, sesame and tree nuts. These foods are common ingredients in many food products. To produce allergen-free food products, food manufacturers have to be aware of types of allergens, control plan for processing, cross contamination possibly occurring during processing, detection methods for allergens and regulations including allergen-free labeling.
MoniQA, the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the Ministry of Science and Technology would like to invite you to attend the Workshop "Effective Mycotoxin Management" taking place at the Thailand Science Park, Tha Khlong, Pathum Thani / Bangkok, Thailand on 11-12 December 2013.
The objectives of the workshop are
Dr Roland Poms, Secretary General, will represent MoniQA and ICC at the 98th AACC International Annual Meeting 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
For further information on the AACC Meeting, please see the announcement on the AACC website.
The ICC Luncheon will be held in connection with the AACC meeting, on 2 October 2013, chaired by Dr Roland Poms, ICC Secretary General. For further information on the ICC Luncheon, please see here.
The 2nd iFAAM (Integrated Approaches to Food Allergen and Allergy Risk Management) consortium meeting will be held 7-9 October 2013 in Cork, Ireland. Roland Poms will represent ICC and MoniQA. For more information on this event please see here.
For further information on the project please click here.
The Allergen Reference Materials Working Group was kicked-off in February 2013 in Washington, USA. The aim of this ICC and MoniQA supported working group is to:
The second meeting was held in Vienna at the ICC Headquarters, 13 June 2013, chaired by Dr Roland Poms, ICC and MoniQA Secretary General. This meeting was held in connection with the GF13 - the 3rd International Symposium on Gluten-Free Cereal Products and Beverages.
The next MoniQA Food Allergen Reference Materials Meeting (by invitation only) will be held on 10 October 2013 prior to the 27th Meeting of the Working Group on Prolamin Analysis and Toxicity in Darmstadt, Germany, 10 - 12 October 2013.
Please find details of the Prolamin WG meeting at www.moniqa.org/events/prolamin_wg_meeting_oct_2013.
On behalf of the MoniQA member CODA-CERVA (Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre, Belgium), it is our pleasure to invite interested laboratories to participate in a multi-mycotoxin proficiency test (PT).
The main objective of the PT is to provide interested laboratories with an opportunity to test their multi-mycotoxin methods and to compare their results with those of other laboratories. Detailed information can be found in the attached Invitation letter.
To register, please fill in the attached Registration form and email it to pt_myco_org [at] coda-cerva [dot] be until 15 September 2013. Please mention "MoniQA" in the subject. Don't hesitate to also send email if you have any questions.
The iFAAM Project - The world's biggest ever study of allergies – kicked off in March 2013. The MoniQA Assocation supports the project as project partner.
Up to 20 million European citizens suffer from food allergy. However management of both food allergy, by patients and health practitioners, and allergens, by industry, is thwarted by lack of evidence to either prevent food allergy developing or protect adequately those who are already allergic.
Funded by the 7th Framework Programme and coordinated by Manchester University, iFAAM will develop evidence-based approaches and tools for MANAGEMENT of ALLERGENS in FOOD and integrate knowledge derived from their application and new knowledge from intervention studies into FOOD ALLERGY MANAGEMENT plans and dietary advice. The resulting holistic strategies will reduce the burden of food allergies in Europe and beyond, whilst enabling the European food industry to compete in the global market place.
The MoniQA Association supports the iFAAM project as a WorkPackage Leader of a WP on translating iFAAM developed tools and food allergen management approaches into applicable tools and services. The project will run till 2017.
The 2nd iFAAM meeting has been hold in Cork, October 2013. For more information please see: link
Roland Poms, Secretary General of ICC and MoniQA Association will lecture on "Reference Materials and Method Validation in Food Safety Assurance" at BOKU - University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, Vienna, Austria. Apart from enrolled MSc and PhD students, ICC and MoniQA members have access to a maximum of 10 places. If interested, please register by email to office [at] icc [dot] or [dot] at. The lectures, excursions and workshop activities are on 5 afternoons. Invited speakers from international standardisation organisations will enrich the workshop programme and give a global perspective and the value of international standards.
The aim of the workshop on "Reference materials and method validation in food safety assurance" is to describe the issues and challenges involved in the international comparability and validity of analytical results in the assurance of food safety and quality. On the basis of practical examples the focus will be on current hot topics, such as mycotoxins, food allergens, pathogenic micro-organisms, GMOs, etc., the analytical possibilities (including rapid methods), and the corresponding EU regulations. Additionally, an overview of international standardization bodies and examples of international validation studies will be given.
More infos: www.moniqa.org/events/workshop_rm_food_safety_boku_november_2013
ICC, as partner of the PlantLIBRA consortium would like to invite interested laboratories and stakeholders to participate in an international network of laboratories capable of providing reliable high quality analytical data on plant and botanical preparations and/or to identify chemical and biological contaminants and/or assess irradiation treatment.
PlantLIBRA (acronym of Plant food supplements: Levels of Intake, Benefit and Risk Assessment, FP7 EC project number 245199) aims to foster the safe use of food supplements containing plants or botanical preparations, by increasing science-based decision-making by regulators and food chain operators.
PlantLIBRA - a project co-financed in the context of the 7th EU Framework Program - spans 4 continents and 25 partners, comprising leading academics, small- and medium sized enterprises, industry and no-profit organizations. The project is structured to develop, validate and disseminate data and methodologies for risk and benefit assessment and implement sustainable international cooperation. During its four years of length, PlantLIBRA will directly achieve a meta-database containing data on plant food supplement consumption, as well as on biologically active substances and contaminants.
PlantLIBRA works closely with EFSA and plans also cooperation with competent authorities and stakeholders.
NOTE: The lecture has been postponed! The special workshop on 19 June 2013 takes place with a changed agenda.
Roland Poms, Secretary General of ICC and MoniQA Association will lecture on "Reference Materials and Method Validation in Food Safety Assurance" at BOKU - University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, Vienna, Austria. Apart from enrolled MSc and PhD students, ICC and MoniQA members have access to a maximum of 10 places. If interested, please register by email to office [at] icc [dot] or [dot] at. The lectures, excursions and workshop activities are on 5 afternoons 17-21 June 2013, 13:00-17:00. Invited speakers from international standardisation organisations will enrich the workshop programme and give a global perspective and the value of international standards.
The aim of the workshop on "Reference materials and method validation in food safety assurance" is to describe the issues and challenges involved in the international comparability and validity of analytical results in the assurance of food safety and quality. On the basis of practical examples the focus will be on current hot topics, such as mycotoxins, food allergens, pathogenic micro-organisms, GMOs, etc., the analytical possibilities (including rapid methods), and the corresponding EU regulations. Additionally, an overview of international standardization bodies and examples of international validation studies will be given.
As official conference supporters, ICC and MoniQA would like to invite you to the 17th edition of the EuroFoodChem, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, 7-10 May 2013, organised and chaired by the ICC National Delegate of Turkey and coopted MoniQA Supervisory Board Member, Prof. Hamit Köksel from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. The location has been chosen to reflect the role of Istanbul as a meeting point for East and West as the crossroads of different continents and cultures.
EuroFoodChem XVII is the latest in the series of flagship conferences organised by the Food Chemistry Division of EuCheMS and the European Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences.
The EuroFoodChem XVII Local Organising Committee is delighted to announce that there has been an overwhelming response to the conference with over 800 abstracts received from more than 80 countries.
Details including specific topics of the conference are available at www.eurofoodchemxvii.org.
A Regional Expert Advisory Working Group Meeting was held in Jahorina, Bosnia on: Risk Assessment, Risk Management and Control related to Aflatoxins in South Eastern Europe, 4th/5th April 2013.
The meeting was called upon by the Ministers of Agriculture of the Balkan region, which was recently affected by aflatoxins in maize and milk. The aflatoxin issue had also spread to West European trading partners. The meeting was organised by the South Eastern Europe Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group based in Skopje, Macedonia. Approximately 30 participants from Balkan countries attended the meeting. Two external experts, Frans Verstraete (European Commission, DG-SANCO, Brussels, Belgium) and Hans van Egmond (RIKILT Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen UR, the Netherlands) were found to be available to attend the meeting, after an urgent call from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations through the Network of the MoniQA Association. The meeting resulted in recommendations that were immediately presented to the joint ministers to enable management decisions and adequate measures to resolve the aflatoxin problems in the Balkan region. The day after the meeting these recommendations were ratified at the political level.
The case shows how the MoniQA Association can successfully provide expertise from its members at short notice, in case of emerging food and feed safety issues.
A big Thank You to the two experts!
The 2nd FOODSEG Symposium will be held in Bucharest, Romania from 14th to 15th of June 2013.
For further information please visit www.b2match.eu/foodseg2013.
The Conference is organized by MycoRed Consortium, coordinated by CNR ISPA - Institute of Sciences of Food Production of National Research Council, with the support of the ISM - International Society for Mycotoxicology, concluding an international cycle of successful conferences held in Austria, Malaysia, South Africa, Argentina and Canada in the past four years.
The conference is expected to be the largest meeting of researchers on mycotoxins globally in 2013! This appointment will be an opportunity to discuss on mycotoxins concerns and present the recent advances by research at global level, according to the attached preliminary programme.
Deadlines:
The early bird registration for the EuroFoodChem XVII (www.eurofoodchemxvii.org) is over. Exclusively for MoniQA Association Members, the deadline for this registration at the reduced fee will be extended to end of next week (7th April 2013)! Additionally accommodation at the University guest house can be offered at lower rates. The number of available rooms is limited.
For registration, please get in contact with Ms Aysun Sahin (Arber): project [at] arber [dot] com [dot] tr
The Mycotoxin Summer Academy (MSA) from 1 - 12 July 2013 offered two subsequent one-week training courses. The first week provided an overview on the significance and properties of mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi including their determination and characterization. The second week was dedicated to various aspects of liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) especially for multi-analyte approaches to determine mycotoxins.
Some 200 participants from some 40 countries attended the 4th MoniQA International Conference in Budapest, Hungary. The main focus of the conference was "Food Safety under Global Pressure of Climate Change, Food Security and Economic Crises".
Emerging issues and the various aspects of the interrelation between food safety, food security, economy development and globalization were presented and discussed in some 80 oral presentations in 20 technical sessions and close to 80 posters. The 6 keynote speakers at the start and at the end of the conference embedded the conference topics in both a global picture of the current situation as well as gave an expert glimpse into the future. We were proud to have had the following keynote speakers with us:
Make sure to use this unique opportunity and register for any of the exciting
pre-conference workshops on
Tuesday 26 February 2013 during your stay in Budapest!
01: Horizon 2020 - Your Research Priorities on the European Research Agenda
In this MoniQA and ICC organized workshop representatives from National contact Points (NCPs), Technology platform (Food for Life) and Knowledge Innovation Community (KIC) will present ways of actively contributing to the H2020 European food safety research agenda and participants get the chance to present their cases and questions, share ideas with the experts and create the basis for their future involvement. Find more details under
http://budapest2013.moniqa.org/download/horizon2020.
02: Quality Assurance aspects of mycotoxin testing
The organisers of this workshop, Trilogy Analytical Laboratory, introduced a proficiency testing scheme using reference materials 'Double Check' which is an excellent tool in the quality assurance process of mycotoxin analysis. In this workshop the use of this proficiency testing will be demonstrated. See
http://budapest2013.moniqa.org/download/mycotoxintesting for more.
14 December 2012, Wageningen
Wageningen Academic Publishers is pleased to announce the collaboration with ICC and MoniQA for publishing 'Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods (QAS)'. This international journal was previously published by Wiley Blackwell. The journal will be published by Wageningen Academic Publishers starting in 2013 with Volume 5. The journal transfer will ensure further growth and continued delivery of high-quality content.
Mike Jacobs, Managing Director at Wageningen Academic Publishers, said, "We are delighted to add 'Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods' to our portfolio. It ties in nicely with the food and feed titles that we have published for years. It is our aim to use our experience in this topic and our personal approach to re-launch the journal. Together with our motivated editors we look forward to expanding the journal's reach and readership."
In the new setting Dr. Roland Poms (ICC) and Stanley Cauvain (BakeTran, UK), are the editors-in-chief. Both editors were already involved with 'Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods' before the transition.
Roland Poms, Secretary General of ICC and MoniQA, represented MoniQA and ICC at the Third International Conference "Grain Industry in the 21stCentury" in Moscow, Russia, 20-22 November 2012 organised by the Russian Grain Union together with the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, International Industrial Academy, International Grains Council, Grain and Feed Trade Association. The meeting attracted more than 200 representatives from 23 countries including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, USA, UK, Argentina, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and others. Roland Poms gave a presentation of ICC’s activities and its long standing link with Russia in the opening session of the conference, and a MoniQA endorsed speech on International Monitoring and Control Systems for Cereal and Food Safety and Quality during a technical session. A joint table top exhibition on behalf of ICC, MoniQA and Health Grain Forum provided up-to-date information on international developments in various grain and cereal products relevant areas. Additionally, Roland Poms was involved in various discussions about extending the membership base in Russia. To view the entire report and some pictures, please go to www.grun.ru/en/events/detail.php?SECTION_ID=233&ID=2295.
MoniQA is a broad and diverse network of partner organisations working in the area of food safety and quality management, method development and validation. One of MoniQA's services to its members and with this also one of the great advantages of being part of such a network is to facilitate participation at national and international research undertakings. Since its launch in September 2011, MoniQA has involved some 20 members in several research projects and/or proposals.
Currently MoniQA and its partners are involved in the preparation of 6 new projects.
Register now for the 3rd International Symposium on Gluten-Free Cereal Products and Beverages to be held in Vienna, Austria, 12-14 June 2013, at http://gf2013.icc.or.at/register.
An exciting conference programme has been developed and is available online at http://gf2013.icc.or.at/programme. The following keynote lectures and technical sessions are included in the programme:
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