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PATHOGENCOMBAT - Control and Prevention of Emerging and Future Pathogens at Cellular and Molecular Level throughout the Food Chain

Objective

<OL> <LI> Food with none or acceptably low levels of pathogens<LI> New methods to detect and predict the occurrence of viable pathogens and their virulence in the food chain and at the time of consumption<LI> Control methods to eliminate biofilms based upon hygienic design and processing<LI> Novel processing technologies to inactivate pathogens<LI> New probiotic and protective cultures to eliminate pathogens<LI> Pathogen control optimisation throughout the food chain based upon mathematical modelling<LI> New cost effective Food Safety Management System<LI> Unified awareness of food safety for the European consumers, food industries and regulatory agencies.

More information

Food safety is of fundamental importance to the European consumer, food industry and economy. The impact on trade and competitiveness is very substantial. Despite significant investment the incidence of food derived disease still increases in the EU. PathogenCombat attacks this pan-European problem through a holistic, multidisciplinary approach towards threats from new/emerging pathogens in the entire food chain. <P>

A number of advanced platforms will be developed to investigate the survival and virulence expression of pathogens in feed and food, and on contact surfaces in the food chain including the intestinal tract of farm animals. The platforms, of which several are used for the first time in food safety studies, comprise bioimaging, laser tweezers, phage display/convergent evolution, functional mammalian cell models, functional genomics and microarrays. New/emerging food borne bacteria, yeast, filamentous fungi and viruses are targeted for milk and dairy products, poultry and pigs and their meat products. <P>
A distinctive aspect of this Project is to facilitate proactive, more coherent, effective and flexible responses to new/emerging pathogens. The deliverables will be widely exploited by SMEs to produce safe food and improve the health and well being of Europeans and the competitiveness of the food industry

<P>For more information about this project, please visit the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/biosociety/food_quality/projects/051_en.ht…; target="_blank">European Commission Food Quality and Safety in Europe</a> Web site.

Investigators
Jakobsen, Morgens
Institution
The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University
Start date
2005
End date
2010
Funding Source
Project number
007081