Objective The industrial and agricultural activities of the modern society lead to significant release of a large number of toxic substances into the environment having an ultimate impact on the food quality and human health. Many of such chemicals are used in agriculture as pesticides, fungicides, etc. to enhance the productivity. This is the case of dithiocarbamates (DTC) that are one of the relatively large used fungicides being effective against a broad spectrum of fungi and plant diseases. Despite the significant environmental and food chain impact of DTC, the current analytical approaches for their determination suffer from serious drawbacks. The European reference method for this purpose relies on non-selective quantification by indirect determination of the sum of DTC species hence this approach provides incomplete information on the exposure to individual DTC. The present proposal aims at the development and validation of a method for accurate and selective determination of DTCs in food by a multi-approach strategy. A combination of analytical methodologies such as those currently employed for trace metals speciation and also for organic contaminants will be developed and fully validated. These methodologies will be critically compared through the analysis of real-life food samples from EU and imported from external markets. The impact of different cooking modes on DTC degradation pathways will also be investigated. By combining powerful separation techniques such as high performance liquid chromatography with elemental and molecular spectrometry, this project will allow obtaining a deeper knowledge on the presence of individual DTCs in various foodstuff and of their degradation mechanisms during food processing. Additionally, it will consistently contribute to the development of a reference method for selective DTC determination in food hence having a great impact on the scientific research in food quality control at European level. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturefruit growingnatural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycologyagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturevegetable growingnatural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaliphatic compoundsnatural scienceschemical sciencesanalytical chemistrymass spectrometry Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2016 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator AGENCE NATIONALE DE LA SECURITE SANITAIRE DE L ALIMENTATION DE L ENVIRONNEMENT ET DU TRAVAIL Net EU contribution € 185 076,00 Address 14 rue pierre et marie curie 94700 Maisons alfort France See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Val-de-Marne Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00