Project description
Smartphones take the lead in food safety
Current food quality and safety testing methods are costly, time-consuming, and fall short of guaranteeing food safety for all consumers while preventing widespread fraud incidents. It’s possible to reverse this trend. The EU-funded FoodSmartphone project will leverage smartphone-based (bio)analytical sensing and diagnostic tools to simplify on-site rapid prescreening of food quality and safety parameters. Taking a holistic approach, the project will bring together experts from diverse fields such as (bio)analytical chemistry, biology, physics, micro-engineering, mathematics and food chemistry. It also aims to engage the public and raise scientific awareness through outreach activities. To ensure wide-ranging impact, FoodSmartphone will disseminate its findings among key stakeholders.
Objective
Current food quality and safety testing is, to a large extent, an inefficient, expensive and ineffective process, unable to assure food safety for all consumers and unable to prevent major food fraud incidents. A paradigm shift in quality and safety testing is urgently required in order to free resources for an intensified combat against fraud in the food chain. As an enabling technology solution, the FoodSmartphone ETN proposes the development of smartphone-based (bio)analytical sensing and diagnostics tools for simplified on-site rapid pre-screening of food quality and safety parameters and wireless data transfer to servers of relevant stakeholders. FoodSmartphone comprises 7 Training Sites (3 universities, 3 research centres, 1 innovation SME), plus 5 Partner Organisations (1 global food industry, 1 diagnostics SME and 3 universities awarding doctoral degrees). The consortium has been built upon highly complementary disciplines: (bio)analytical chemists, biologists, physicists, micro-engineers, mathematicians and food chemists will work together on the joint supra-disciplinary goal. FoodSmartphone provides a unique mix of exciting local PhD research covering all aspects of smartphone-based screening tools plus a wealth of network-wide science & innovation and transferable skills training: the ETN provides more than 14 network-wide and transferable skills training events and 16 optional- and 11 mandatory intersectoral secondment opportunities. The ETN and results thereof will be widely disseminated to key stakeholders, embedded in continuous education programs and translated into a final exploitation plan. Scientific awareness of the next generation and public engagement will be boosted by several well-targeted outreach activities. The scientific training in novel smartphone-based sensing technologies plus the complementary skills training provided will have a major impact on future EU monitoring practices and, moreover, pave the road for Citizen Science approaches to food quality and safety testing.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsbiosensors
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesmicrotechnologylab on a chip
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesfood technologyfood safety
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsmobile phones
- social sciencespolitical sciencespolitical policiescivil society
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-ITN-ETN - European Training NetworksCoordinator
6708 PB Wageningen
Netherlands