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Measure and Control of mycotoxins, pesticides and acrylamide in grain milling sector (MAP-MILLING)

Final Report Summary - MAP-MILLING (Measure and Control of mycotoxins, pesticides and acrylamide in grain milling sector)

The grain milling industry has detected that one of their main problems in the final product quality assurance is the control of raw materials and the control of their toxicity: mycotoxins (ochratoxin A, aflatoxins etc.), pesticides and formation of acrylamide. Nowadays, agro-food SMEs are forced to use very labourious methodologies, with long preparation phases and high investments. These methods are slow and hardly applicable 'in situ' or in processing line. Thus, there is a clear need to develop new analytical tools able to detect contaminants in an easy, reliable and economic way. Current analyses in laboratories are long and relatively expensive, so it disturbs flour production and increases final process costs. The grain milling sector is very interested in developing and disseminating a new measurement technology at competitive market price.

The global objective of the project was to increase the food safety in the grain processing / milling industry according to the new regulation and market demands, requiring a high quality products and demonstrated reliability.

The MAP-MILLING project has completed the whole work programme of the project and major achievements obtained are the following:
- identification of needs and requirements (appraisal and demands) of the potential end-users (grain-milling industries) for detection of pollutants in cereal samples;
- setting up of technical specifications for the measurement systems and preliminary analysis of measurement techniques (reference analytical methods, matrix effect studies etc.);
- final research results and recommendations for acrylamide minimisation;
- design and development of improved measurement systems in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) format for some target pesticides (2,4-D, DDT and chlorphyriphos-methyl) in cereal products;
- comparison of current and new Mycotoxins measurement systems (NIR, ELISA, visual detection, dip sticks etc.) and advice for quick, low cost and reliable prediction of DON and ZEA;
- development of a risk management system for grain milling SMEs with a catalogue of key pollutants and the development of simple and easy understandable guidelines;
- design and development of an open-source software tool integrating the results of the MAP-MILLING project;
- preparation of three national conferences on food safety in agro-food sector;
- preparation of one European conference on food safety in agro-food sector;
- holding three training workshops at regional level on project results for grain-milling sector.