169,742 research outputs found
Preparation of an infant formula proficiency testing material and assessment of its homogeneity and stability
No full textThe European Union Reference Laboratory for Chemical Elements in Food of Animal Origin (EURL-CEFAO) is a proficiency testing (PT) provider accredited according to ISO Guide 43-1 and later to ISO/IEC 17043:2010. It organizes exercises devoted to expert laboratories of the EU Member States. PTs are proposed taking into account matrices, analytes, maximum levels (MLs) ruled in Commission Regulation (EC) 1881/2006 (and following amendments) and discussions about new or modified MLs. Following this approach, an exercise was organized in 2012 on the measurement of the cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) mass fraction in powdered infant formula based on animal proteins (17th PT). One of the goals was to prepare a material containing Cd around the probable new ML so as to allow participants to test their performance at such a level. The procedure to produce the PT material was set on the basis of the EURL long experience in preparing freeze-dried samples and was tested on a preliminary batch. Homogeneity and stability of the PT material were evaluated through procedures based on international standards. For all tests, a standard deviation for proficiency assessment (σpt), more restrictive than that from the Horwitz equation (σH), was used. The mass fraction of Cd and Pb in the material was proven to be homogeneous and stable for 15 months. These results are extremely satisfactory taking into account the low mass fraction proposed and the restrictive standard deviation for proficiency assessment used to perform the tests. Furthermore, the PT was particularly useful considering that Commission Regulation (EC) 1881/2006 has been recently amended [CR (EU) 488/2014] with the introduction of the new ML for Cd in infant formulas consistent with the mass fraction value proposed in the 17th PT. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Development and delivery of a pilot service for the physical infrastructure of metrofood-RI
No full textThe importance of Metrofood Ri for/in the development of the agrofood sector in the South Eastern European (SEE) partner countries
No full textMETROFOOD-RI is a European Research Infrastructure (RI) aiming at promoting metrology in food and nutrition. In the present work, a mapping of existing RIs and networks of the South Eastern European (SEE) METROFOOD partner countries (i.e. FYROM, Greece, Hungary, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovenia), related directly or indirectly to the Agrifood sector, is presented and discussed. As reference METROFOOD partner country, The Netherlands is considered. Copyright� (2017) by the International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO). All rights reserved
Networking tools for standardization
No full textIn order to systematize and networking data and information useful in measurements for food and nutrition, ENEA is developing a web application based on open source cloud technologies. This application will permit to inventory the available resources on Reference Materials, Proficiency Testing schemes and Reference Methods for food analysis, collecting in a single web-site all the available information for standardizing and harmonizing food analysis
Metrofood-RI: Inventory of the facilities and organization of the physical infrastructure
No full textMETROFOOD-RI is a Research Infrastructure (RI) for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition composed by a Physical (P-RI) and an electronic (e-RI) infrastructure which are strictly interconnected. PRO-METROFOOD Project (H2020 INFRADEV-02-2016, GA n.739568) represents the �Early Phase� of the RI and has among its objectives the definition of the operational capacities of the PRI, with the design of its scientific services. The facilities have been inventoried and classified in a database, which provides an organized overview of the capacities of the distributed P-RI. Copyright� (2017) by the International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO). All rights reserved
TXRF analysis of vegetal foodstuff samples
No full textIn this work, a fast and simple analytical method has been developed for the multi elemental analysis of different vegetal foodstuff samples, by using a combination of two low power benchtop total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) systems. The suspension of the powdered samples in deionized water showed to be the most suitable way for the preparation and analysis of this kind of samples. However, for comparison purposes the samples were also acid digested and measured by TXRF
Reference materials in support to food traceability
No full textTraceability represents the ability to trace and follow a food and any ingredient through all the stages from production, up to the distribution and the end use. Thanks to the progress of knowledge, technologies and data processing systems, it is possible to identify markers and develop systems and analytical methods for demonstrating the origin and authenticity of raw materials and products. The application of the metrological rules to chemical and biological measurements requires more and more a wide availability of Reference Materials (RMs), which constitute very often the only way for establishing metrological traceability of the measurement results and for quantifying measurement uncertainty. In this work, an examination of the current availability of RMs for traceability of food products is reported, and the ENEA activities on the development of new RMs for food traceability are described
Feasibility studies for new food matrix-Reference Materials
No full textThis paper reports about the feasibility studies for the development of new food matrix-Reference Materials (RMs) aimed to evaluate quality, safety and traceability of selected food products, performed during the "Early Phase" (H2020 INFRADEV-02-2016 PRO-METROFOOD, G.A. 739568) of METROFOOD-RI "Infrastructure for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition" (ESFRI Domain "Health & Food"), in the frame of the development of pilot services. With this purpose, batches of oyster tissue, rice grains and rice flour were prepared in lyophilized form (oyster tissue) or in their raw form (rice), homogenised, partitioned and then characterised for a very wide set of parameters, such as: contaminants, biomarkers, stable isotopes, markers of origin/authenticity. Such a wide characterisation was aimed to involve as many laboratories as possible and to go forward the development of "Multipurpose-RMs", meaning new RMs having certified, reference or information values for several different parameters. Homogeneity studies and stability studies under thermal and luminous stress are underway. © 2018 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved
Development of analytical methodologies to determine the elemental profile of saffron for geographical origin assessment studies
No full textIn the present study, analytical methodologies based on inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were developed for the determination of the elemental profile of saffron as a tool for its geographical traceability. Due to the high commercial price of the spice, special focus was paid in using only a minute amount of sample (30 mg)
A Search Engine Concept to Improve Food Traceability and Transparency: Preliminary Results
No full textIn recent years, the digital revolution has involved the agrifood sector. However, the use of the most recent technologies is still limited due to poor data management. The integration, organisation and optimised use of smart data provides the basis for intelligent systems, services, solutions and applications for food chain management. With the purpose of integrating data on food quality, safety, traceability, transparency and authenticity, an EOSC-compatible (European Open Science Cloud) traceability search engine concept for data standardisation, interoperability, knowledge extraction, and data reuse, was developed within the framework of the FNS-Cloud project (GA No. 863059). For the developed model, three specific food supply chains were examined (olive oil, milk, and fishery products) in order to collect, integrate, organise and make available data relating to each step of each chain. For every step of each chain, parameters of interest and parameters of influence—related to nutritional quality, food safety, transparency and authenticity—were identified together with their monitoring systems. The developed model can be very useful for all actors involved in the food supply chain, both to have a quick graphical visualisation of the entire supply chain and for searching, finding and re-using available food data and information
- …
