Stakeholder events

The first national MASSTWIN workshop for stakeholders took place at the headquarters of the Žito d.d. company in Ljubljana. It was attended by 27 participants from 16 different companies and institutions from industry and academia. The objective of the workshop was to elaborate the workplan for the national Smart Specialization Program “Food for Future” (F4F) in the field of sustainable food production. The core of the programme were presentations and discussion of the common research topics. Research project leaders or their representatives presented the two main sets of product groups for which the programme was developed, namely fortified foods and foods with reduced content of undesirable substances. Seven relevant chains of value were identified (cereals, milk, meat, fruits / vegetables, honey, food supplements, intelligent packaging). The outcome of the event was a roadmap of participating entities for future common activities, and finally the common project F4F.

The workshop was organized as a conference sessionchaired  by dr. F. Camin (FEM) and S. Kelly (IAEA-FAO), and was a part of the 4^th Food Integrity Conference. The motto of the conference was “Assuring the integrity of the food chain: Turning science into solutions”. The conference offered a seamless framework and programme to advance discussion and practical applications to support and advance food integrity. Over 330 participants from all over the world, from all sectors of science, industry and organizations attended the conference, which confirms the growing importance of food integrity for protecting consumers from fraud and adulterated food.

The “Workshop on good risk management requirements, trust and label claims & best practices” took place on the first day of the conference during the afternoon session (2.30 – 5.00 PM). It consisted of short talks, an interactive exercise, where participants were divided into three groups to discuss PDO, PGI and organic foods with prof. Federica Camin and Simon Kelly as moderators, and a concluding session wrapping-up the findings from the group discussions.

The presented talks were as follows:

• Fabio Del Bravo (Ismea, Italy): “Economic role, trend and evolution of PDO/PGI products in Italy and Europe”.
• Rosa Vano (Castillo de Canena, Spain): “Importance of labelling, consumer sensitivity and quality”.
• Gerald A. Herrmann (Organic Services GmbH, Germany): “Italy’s Organic Grain Sector comes together and implements an Integrity Management System that combats food fraud”.
• Marco Nocetti (Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano, Italy): “Analytical tools for protecting the PDO cheese Parmigiano Reggiano”.
• Massimo Sacco (Acetificio Ponti, Italy): “Tools for protecting the IGP Aceto Balsamico di Modena”.
• Francois Guyon (scl.finances.gouv.fr): “Control of wine authenticity: a Label Story!”

The workshop definitely deepened the themes of economic significance and importance of label claims, and gave to stakeholders and official bodies guidelines for promoting trust in premium products. The workshop proved to be a very lively and a participatory experience and an excellent setting for engaging participants from all sectors of food science and management. In presentations and discussions it deepened the themes of economic importance of label claims (the examples chosen were PDO/PGI and organic foods), and how to best promote trust in premium products.

Following a successful training course on the application of stable isotopes in food authenticity, which was organized by the ISO-FOOD ERA Chair at the beginning of April, a compact training course for food inspectors of the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for food safety, veterinary and plant protection was organized. The training consisted of two blocks of lectures (2 hours each) and discussion, and offered a tailor-made knowledge for he purpose of food control in Slovenia. In the lectures, basic definitions in isotope chemistry were presented, mechanisms of isotope fractionation in organisms and the analytical tools available for the control of food authenticity, production regime and geographical origin. Several practical examples and experiences from the 20 years of application of stable isotopes in food control in Slovenia were presented, and advantages and drawbacks of isotopes as a tool for food authenticity and safety control were discussed.

The satellite event was co-organized by projects MASSTWIN and ISO-FOOD (ERA Chair for isotope  techniques in food safety, quality and traceability). Its aim was to highlight the recent advances in instrumentation and its application in the environment, food and health related research, and by doing so, to explore the opportunities and challenges ahead.

The Conference covered all aspects of environmental analytical chemistry and offered about 450 oral and poster presentations in 23 sessions. The session “Mass spectrometry in food and environmental research” was co-chaired by MASSTWIN researchers prof Adrian Covaci (University of Antwerp) and prof Ester Heath (JSI).

The satellite event entitled “Isotopic techniques and their applications in environmental and food research” took place on June 18 (1.00 to 4.00 PM) and was co-convened by prof Nives Ogrinc and dr David Heath (JSI). The event dealt with both traditional stable isotopes of light elements focusing on stable isotope composition of nitrogen and compound specific application of organic pollutants and non-traditional stable isotopes of trace elements such as Hg to determine the sources and transformation processes in the environment. Its intent was to bring together leading researchers in the field and present the state-of-the-art including their own recent research. The event consisted of seven presentations followed by a roundtable discussion about the new directions in environmental analytical research.

The topic of the workshop was application of stable isotopes of O and H in water for the management of water resources in Ljubljana area, encompassing the precipitation, recharge and migration of groundwater. The workshop was intended for local stakeholders in Ljubljana, dealing with the management of drinking water resources in Ljubljana area, with invited speakers from University of Ljubljana, University of Florence (Italy) and Croatian Geological Survey. During and after the visit of laboratories, discussion on future collaboration took place. The outcome of the workshop was a contractual collaboration with the VO-KA Public utility in Ljubljana, which is now continuing within an IAEA coordinated research project (F33024 Isotope Techniques for the Evaluation of Water Sources for Domestic Supply in Urban Areas), and a COST application WATSON – Water isotopes in the critical zone: from groundwater recharge to plant transpiration” which was submitted by University of Florence (Italy) with JSI as the Slovenian member of the consortium.

The stakeholder event Food authenticity and traceability was organized in conjunction with the project CRP IAEA meeting: “Accessible Technologies for the Verification of Origin of Dairy Products as an Example Control System to Enhance Global Trade and Food Safety”. The main objective of the event was to prepare the basis for establishing a traceability system based on the experience obtained from analysing milk and dairy products. The event was attended by 40 delegates representing government bodies, scientific community, industry and commercial companies from 15 countries (Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, China, Italy, Lithuania, Morocco, New Zealand, Russia, Poland,Singapore, Srilanka, Slovenia, USA and  U.K.).

The main objective of the event was to prepare the scientific groundworks for truffle protection and certification. It was attended by 30 experts representing government bodies, scientific community and community of truffle hunters. This was a national event, with dr. Christina Maguas from University of Lisbon as a guest speaker, representing the ARIMNet2 ERA-NET action (Coordination of agricultural research in the Mediterranean area), aimed at enhancing the coordination of agricultural research in the Mediterranean area and strengthening the cooperation among stakeholders from the food and agriculture sector (e.g. researchers, farmers and their organisations, agricultural extension services, agribusinesses, policy-makers, funders, etc.). Topics, such as possibilities of truffle cultivation in Slovenia, the problems concerning the adulterations of truffle products, cooperation between different institutions and individuals in the truffle research area, and the idea of the establishment of the truffle research institute, were discussed.