On Saturday, 25 March 2023 the open days took place at the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI). The event is open for general public interested in research activities on multidisciplinary fields of science.
Read about the event here.
Make sure to attend this webinar given by Assist. prof. Tome Eftimov
Session 1 link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86759643811?pwd=YzZqU1Z2YmNWRWdWbmVoNkxhY05zdz09
Meeting ID: 867 5964 3811 Passcode: 083118
Session 2 link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83350460775?pwd=S3R6R3RqYTlkai9IQnBqYTY0QXA5UT09 Meeting ID: 833 5046 0775 Passcode: 479676
There is an opportunity to submit a paper to the relatively new JEEA Journal in the areas of chemical contaminants in food. For more information, please read the flyer here.
Four temporary positions are available as Fourth Level researcher (R4) for up to 36 months or to the end of the project in the field of: applied biology, agricultural sciences, dairy sciences and microbiology, food chemistry, food science and technology, and consumer science. Application deadline February 19, 2023.
For more information, go to the FEM webpage here
Make sure to catch the workshop on Grant Writing for Beginners (Thu Feb 09, 2023) which will be moderated by ESR 3: Mudita Vats. The session will provide resources and insights on finding grant applications, hot topics to write on, quantity v/s quality of grants, general advice and much more.
Register to attend online using this link: here.
This announcement is an open call for abstracts to the second ISO-FOOD conference that will be held in Hotel Bernardin, Portorož, Slovenia, from April 24-26, 2023.
For more information, read the flyer here or got to the conference website at www.isofood2023.si/
The New Year comes with new publications! 2023 seems to bring very promising outcomes for Foodtranet ESRs. Just before Christmas, Johan (ESR 12) and Athira (ESR 13) published a new paper in Macromol journal. The paper consists of a review of processing methods for packaging applications. They focused on active compounds which are incorporated in food packaging to improve their antibacterial and antioxidant properties link: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6209/3/1/1.
Also, Athira published another review paper this January in Polymers. In this paper, Athira worked more in-depth on her PhD topic, which consists in evaluating different ways to incorporate these active agents into the different packaging materials (link: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/15/2/273). The topic that the two ESRs have been working on is very relevant nowadays since food packaging materials are part of our daily life and their management is crucial for protecting consumer’s health and the environment.
All publications can be found on our page here.
The ESRs and the supervisors gathered in Bovec, Slovenia for a teambuilding weekend. The event started with all the ESRs receiving the special FoodTraNet hoodies and having a great Slovenian dinner reunion. Rafting was the teambuilding activity of choice as it is a perfect activity for helping a team to learn to work together, communicate clearly and effectively and most importantly, have fun together.
The day was followed by a set of interactive and competitive social activities; a scavenger hunt and a trivia quiz night. Despite the rain, the next day was well spent where everyone got the chance to explore the history of Kobarid town and its days during the World War I at the Kobarid Museum. All in all, a very successful, fun, and enriching teambuilding experience.
Our ESR Lidia Molina has written a blog on this and you can read it here.
On October 13 our colleague Professor Adrian Covaci from the University of Antwerp will give a webinar, via Zoom, on tips for writing scientific literature, as well as the editorial process.
The Zoom link is here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83012742750?pwd=OVJNMktOMVFidXBMdFlOWW9XSXljZz09
The passcode is: 840319
We hope you find the webinar useful!
All of the ESRs gathered again for the Mid-Term Check meeting that took place at the Maastricht MultiModal Molecular Imaging Institute – M4i. The meeting commenced with a warm welcome from Dr. Ron Heeren followed by an introduction to the meeting by the REA Project Officer and the project coordinator. This was followed by individual presentations given by each ESR about their research project progress and foreseen research. Also, a tour of the innovative M4i laboratories was given at the end of the day. The following day included a trip and a short hike around Domein Aldenborgh; a local Limburg winery in the village of Eys.
After a slight delay in order to allow the first summer school to complete, our first newsletter is here. We have tried to keep it informal and focussed on the experiences of our ESRs within the project.
You can read it here (opens in pdf). We hope you enjoy!
The FoodTraNet team outside FEM
The first of the three planned training schools occurred on June 22-24 2022. It was a 3-day course and held at Fondazione Edmund Mach in San Michele All'adige in Trento, Italy under the title of ˝Advanced approaches for food quality, authenticity and traceability˝. Presntations included developing edible barcodes, mass spectrometry imaging, and biostatistics and data. Training included sample preparation and traditional analytical procedures in stable isotope analysis, and introductions of biotechnology approaches for fermented food (cheese) innovation for food quality improvement.
The summer school included a field visit to the dairy-factory at Fondo and Trentingrana store at Segno guided by Dr. Nicola Cologna and Andrea Goss (CONCAST). The visit introduced us to the intricate techniques used in making and maintaining the Trentingrana which is an Italian Grana cheese that originates from Trento.
You can read more in our newsletter here.
The METROFOOD-PP webinar series will start the 7th of February 2022, for 8 Mondays till the 28th of March. Each Monday two or three webinars will be hold from 1:00 to 2:00 PM, 2:00 to 3:00 and 3:00 to 4:00 PM CET. Each webinar will last for 45 min (35 min presentation, 10 min discussion). More information and registration can be found at the MetroFood website here.
Registration is now open for our fourth international training course on food safety risk management, this time with a spotlight on food fraud and food authenticity. The training is free of charge and will be held virtually in March 2022 by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) in collaboration with the Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food (Max Rubner-Institut (MRI)).
To adapt the training times for participants from around the globe, it will offer the same training twice for three days each:
March 14 to 16, 2022; 14h00–20h00 UTC+1 each day (participants from western hemisphere)
March 17 to 19, 2022; 07h00–13h00 UTC+1 each day (participants from eastern hemisphere)
Registrations will be open until 31 January, 2022 . More information and registration can be found here.
< Source: BVL website >
Between 9-10 December 2021, the kick-off meeting for the FoodTraNet team was held. Unfortuntely, because of on-going social and travel restrictions due to Covid, the meeting had to be held virtually. Despite this, a valuable and informative meeting was still achieved. Chaired by the project Coordinator, Prof. Nives Ogrinc, presentations from each of the Work Package leads and from each of the Early Stage Researchers were given. You can view the individual ESR presentations on our new YouTube channel here or on the ESR Profile page.
Thank you to all involved in organising and participating in this excellent meeting.
The 8th Metrology Conference, aspires to set the stage for distinguished and excelling scientists in Greece and abroad to exchange and share their experiences and research results in all aspects of Metrology, acting as a springboard for the upgrading of national & European laboratory and metrological infrastructure. At the same time, the conference aims to provide an opportunity for young researchers to present their work, for students to submit their first thesis, as well as for colleagues to put forward their concerns and suggestions as for any improvement of the subject of Metrology. The primary aim of the conference is to stimulate fruitful discussion and build bridges of communication and cooperation among academia, industry and governmental authorities, through inter- and trans-disciplinary networking. It will provide a unique international forum for exchanging state-of-the-art information and knowledge sharing. The deadline for abstract submissions is 31 December. You can read the conferenece flyer for more information here.
Tuber magnatum or "European white truffles" can be the most expensive food on earth per kilogramme (Photo: Evan Sung).
Up to 200,000 euros a kilogramme – no wonder white truffles tempt fraudsters. These mushrooms are tasty, nutritious and very rare – a combination that arguably makes them the most expensive food in the world by weight.
This article by our Advisory Board partner IAEA, featuring work from the Josef Stefan Institute, explores the use of Isotopic Analysis to detect fraud in truffles. Read it here.
Our friends at the Metro Food project, which is based around high-level metrology services in food and nutrition for the enhancement of food quality and safety, has just released a very neat informational video giving more details about their work. Please go here to watch this video and please feel free to explore their website for further information.