11 October 2005

EU Recipe for future food research

A 4-year EU-funded research project to be launched on October 11th aims to answer major questions on food allergy. Through the EuroPrevall project, scientists hope to resolve how many people suffer from food allergy, determine the main foods responsible for the phenomenon and uncover how much it costs in monetary terms and quality of life.

EuroPrevall involves 16 European member states, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Iceland and Ghana. It is one of 5 new projects launched by the EU in London half way through the UK presidency.

“For the first time, we will tease out the role of diet, environment and infections in the development of food allergy and whether early signs of predisposition to allergy can be found in our genes”, said Dr Clare Mills, EuroPrevall coordinator from the Institute of Food Research. “Scientific teams will work on new methods to improve clinical diagnosis of food allergy and prevent allergens reaching the food chain.

“Our main focus at IFR will be to understand why peanuts cause so much of a problem compared to their close relative peas. Looking at the protein structure you would predict them to be equally as allergenic. As they are not, we are obviously missing something.”

The way we eat them could be important – peas are generally eaten boiled and peanuts roasted. Food allergy is an untreatable immune system over-reaction to a food protein and another compound could be responsible for enhancing the immune response to peanut proteins. Peanuts are one of most allergenic foods and just tiny amounts can cause a reaction, including anaphylaxis.

The four other projects will fund scientific research to reduce food waste, develop techniques to verify the origin of food, establish better methods to monitor food contaminants including pesticides and create a single authoritative source of food composition data in Europe.

Details of the research studies within each project will be described at a press conference introduced by European Commission Director of Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food research, Christian Patermann.

"I am delighted to launch research that will help assure the health and well-being of European citizens through safer, high-quality and health-promoting food”, said Dr Patermann. “The projects will tackle some of the big outstanding food quality and safety questions. For example, on epidemiology of food allergy in Europe, 'what are the key risk factors'? By examining the complex interactions between food intake and metabolism, the human immune system and genetic background, we can provide answers to help manage and reduce the prevalence of food allergies in the future."

Chair of the UK’s Science and Technology Select Committee Phil Willis MP said: “The research undertaken in these projects will help answer questions about our food supply for consumers, health professionals and industry. It will also address environmental issues by finding innovative ways to exploit food waste that is currently dumped as landfill.”

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Notes to Editors

Please contact Zoe Dunford for more information and interviews with IFR scientists working on these projects: 01603 255111 / 07768 164185 zoe.dunford@ifr.ac.uk

Images are available from IFR illustrating some of the research already achieved in these areas, that will be built on through the EU research launched on Tuesday:

1. Graphic of allergy protein, illustrating research that identified the importance of protein structure in determining what makes an allergen an allergen – still and video clip.
2. Video clip demonstrating natural food thickener derived from onion waste.
3. Stills of food waste and of food structures that scientists aim to deconstruct to find valuable new uses.
4. Maps of Europe showing variation in the distribution of hydrogen and oxygen in rainwater. They will help scientists to trace the geographical origin of mineral water, wheat, olive oil, honey, lamb meat, beef and poultry.
5. Cereal and honey – examples of foods for which techniques will be developed to verify their geographical origin.

For further background on food allergy: http://www.ifr.ac.uk/protall/infosheet.html

The Institute of Food Research

The mission of the Institute of Food Research (www.ifr.ac.uk) is to carry out independent basic, and strategic research on food safety, quality, nutrition and health. It is a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status, grant aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

The 5 projects in brief

Food allergy – www.europrevall.org

EuroPrevall aims is to deliver improved quality of life for food allergic people. More specifically, EuroPrevall will:

• Characterise the patterns and prevalence of food allergies across Europe in infants, children and adults.
• Use samples and information from the surveys to identify risk factors (e.g. environmental, microbial or genetic) and novel predictive markers (e.g. biochemical and genetic) for food allergy, which would allow implementation of preventive measures, for example during pregnancy).
• Improve the quality of food allergy diagnosis, reducing the need for food challenge tests.
• Investigate how the food matrix affects allergenicity of foods, including food processing procedures.
• Determine the impact of food allergies on the quality of life and its economic cost for food allergic people and their families, workplace and employers, and healthcare.

Checklist:
Total value of the project: €19M, with €14M contribution from the Commission. Duration: 48 months. Number of partners: 54
Key Contact: Dr Clare Mills, Institute of Food Research 01603 255295

 

Food waste - www.repro-food.net

Food processors and producers are under increasing pressure to reduce their disposal of surplus co-products. Such residues are biologically complex, and if discarded as waste can often be environmentally unfriendly, and often microbiologically unstable.

Around 3.4 million tonnes of spent grain from the brewing industry and over 1 million tonnes of vegetable trimmings from the vegetable processing industry (Eurostat) are produced in the EU every year. Their improved exploitation will:

• Reduce the environmental impact of food waste (reducing landfill, lessening noxious residues and odours)
• Enhance the sustainable management of organic matter from food production and processing;
• Contribute to integrated resource and waste management
• Promote environmentally-friendly processing methods
• Increase industrial competitiveness
• Provide natural ingredients for the food and feed industries
• Contribute to food quality and safety

Checklist:
Total value of the project: €5,113,658 (EC contribution €3,099,158).
Duration: 36 months. Number of partners: 13.
Key contact: Dr Keith Waldron, Institute of Food Research 01603 255000

 

Food origin and authenticity - www.trace.eu.org

TRACE aims to improve the health and well-being of European citizens by delivering improved traceability of food products along entire fork to farm food chains. TRACE will develop cost effective analytical methods integrated within sector-specific and generic traceability systems that will enable the determination and the objective verification of the origin of food.

TRACE will also assess European consumer perceptions, attitudes, and expectations regarding food production systems and their ability-to-trace food products, together with, consumer attitudes to designated origin products, food authenticity and food fraud. A programme of demonstration activities performed by the food industry will critically appraise of the developed traceability systems to ensure they are cost effective and fit for purpose. Technology transfer activities will train industry, regulatory bodies and analysts in the new systems and methods.

The project involves 47 European organisations from 12 EU Member States and 3 Associated Countries plus one third Country (China) and has a budget of €18.9 million (EC funding €11.96 million). The organisations comprise of research institutes, universities and private companies (of which 12 are SMEs).

The applicability of the project to the consumer and industry will be assured through the combination of an Independent Advisory Board and Observers. These represent major stakeholders, industry and consumers associations and will ensure that the outputs of the project are relevant and meet the needs of consumers and industry alike.

Checklist:
Total value of the project: €18.9 million (EC funding €11.96 million)
Duration: Number of partners: 47
Key contact: Dr Paul Brereton, Central Science Laboratory 01904 462700

 

Food contaminants - www.biocop.org

The BioCop initiative, led by Professor Chris Elliott from the Veterinary Sciences Division, of Queen’s University and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, has received EU funding of £6.7 million to screen a variety of foodstuffs for multiple chemical contaminants, including pesticides, toxins and drugs. It is believed this is the largest food safety project of its kind in the world.

The research team from Northern Ireland will be joined in the five-year project by 32 partners from 15 European countries as well as Canada in an effort to develop new technologies which will help ensure that any hidden dangers in many foods are detected long before being consumed by the public.

The unique initiative involves the use of highly novel techniques aimed at 'finger printing' foodstuffs to discover if they contain any chemical contaminants.

Checklist:
Total value of the project: £6.7 million
Duration: 5 years. Number of partners: 32
Key contact: Professor Chris Elliott, Queens University Belfast (028) 9052 5625

 

Food composition data - www.eurofir.net

EuroFIR (The European Food Information Resource Network) (contract number FP6-513944) is a five-year project funded by the European Commission’s sixth framework. EuroFIR aims to build and disseminate a comprehensive, coherent and validated databank to provide a single, authoritative source of food composition data in Europe for nutrients, and newly emerging bioactive compounds with potential health benefits. Data on the composition of foods are essential for a variety of purposes in many fields of work, for example this information will be used by food manufacturers and producers, to calculate nutrient values for food labelling purposes.

Checklist:
Total value of the project: €12M (entirely funded by the EC).
Duration: 60 months. Number of partners: 40.
Key contact: Paul Finglas, Institute of Food Research 01603 255000

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