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Project description

The proposed project is aimed at the design of innovative food research methodologies, application of high-sensitivity analytical techniques to food research and standardization of procedures in food analysis. These goals will be achieved through i) advanced food characterization (biomarker identification, quality control, food safety, high-sensitivity analysis at micro and nano scale) ii) design of improved methods for the assessment of food adulterations (novel approaches to current challenges faced by the food industry), iii) building of state-of-theart methodologies for highly sensitive and high-throughput analyses, and iv) establishing facilities and expertise for food research at the supramolecular scales, while focusing in the whole project on typical Adriatic food products (dried cured ham, wine, olive, mussels and cheese). Indeed, some of the challenges faced by the authentic food industry are protection of the food authenticity, geographical indication of food, and the rating of "Traditional Speciality Guaranteed" for food products. The proposed scientific approach to these industry challenges will contribute to sustainable economic development, thus actively transferring project activities and outcomes to food industry. Although some innovative approaches relying on very sensitive and/or highthroughput methods have been introduced in the field of food analyses, these methods have not become standard and widely used methodologies so far. This is mainly due to insufficient expertise in the field and the lack of standardization of methodology and analytical techniques to be used.

From the biochemical perspective, the proposed methodology includes proteomics, glycomics and metabolomics methods for large-scale biomarkers studies in food that are related to safety, quality and adulteration of food and its packaging. Compared to traditional methods, where only few proteins can be studied, the methodological paradigm shift will clearly enable improved quality control on a much larger scale and a qualitative and quantitative shift in the cutting-edge research of food products. Moreover, the methods for structural analyses of food at the micro- and nano-metric scales have recently evolved to a level which enables distinguishing the different processing steps and technologies involved in the production of particular food products. The methods based on radiation diffraction and scattering provide an insight into the supramolecular structure at nano-scale, antioxidant activity of food products and the physicochemical aspects of food preparation and processing. Innovative protocols and services provided within this project will ensure access to industry and SMEs needs due to current lack of adequate solutions to food market needs (food safety and adulteration).