SMART TECHNOLOGIES

Scientific innovations for sustainable food systems

In the Blue Area, FFoQSI develops concepts and technologies that can be used for different feed and food categories, both before and after harvest.

Topics

1. Sustainable technologies and packaging for food
2. Advanced control and minimisation of toxins
3. Strategic "blue sky" innovations: from novel technologies to prove authenticity and origin to improved methods of quality and risk assessment
   
   

Objectives

• Identifying new, sustainable processing methods and packaging for food
• Confirming the origin and authenticity of food and feed products
• Detection and elimination of biofilms and mould contamination in food production
• High-throughput toxin analysis and non-animal toxicological assessments
  
  

Solutions pursued at the centre

• Development of new alternative nutritional concepts, for example with regard to alternative protein sources and the use of by-products from fruit and vegetable processing
• Application of experimental or industrial preparation methods for gastronomy and end consumers
• Development of new sustainable or recyclable food packaging
• Further development of a powerful method for the rapid simultaneous determination of numerous contaminants, with a focus on mycotoxins in various matrices
• Development of a monitoring programme to investigate the occurrence of mycotoxins and plant toxins against the background of climate change
• Degradation of mycotoxins by enzymes from plants and insects
• Combination of complementary analytical techniques to confirm the authenticity and quality of feed and food products
• Characterisation and real-time detection of biofilms using spectral methods
• DNA barcoding, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and LC-MS/MS for identification and characterisation of moulds
• Toxicological assessment systems classified as non-animal in vitro (cell culture systems) and in vivo (chicken embryos, nematodes)