GOODFOOD: Food safety and quality monitoring with microsystems

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 03.0228-4

Key words (English)

Microsystems; agrofood

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: 508774

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 6. Frame Research Programme - 1.2 Communications technologies

Short description (English)

See abstract

Further information (English)

Full name of research-institution/enterprise:
Nestlé Research Center
Quality & Safety Assurance Department

Abstract (English)

GoodFood aims at developing the new generation of analytical methods based on Micro and
Nanotechnology (MST and M&NT) solutions for the safety and quality assurance along the food chain GoodFood aims at developing the new generation of analytical methods based on Micro and
Nanotechnology (MST and M&NT) solutions for the safety and quality assurance along the food chain in the agrofood industry. Current and future concerns related to agrofood safety and quality will increasingly require a multidisciplinary and universal approach based on the massive use of simple detection systems able to be used 'near to the foodstuff'. The technology used nowadays to assess food safety and quality relies on lab solutions that are bulky, costly, punctual and time consuming. On the contrary, GoodFood approach will comply, through the development of innovative M&NT solutions, with the needs of ubiquity, low cost and low power, fast response, simple use and fully interconnection to the decisional bodies.
A multidisciplinary integration of know-how and technology is required for addressing the broad requirements of the agrofood field. An Integrated Project is proposed to keep such a global view. The Project aims at the vertical integration of Micro and Nano Technologies from the land to the market. The main demands identified by the agrofood sector will be the applications that will drive the technological developments within GoodFood. The need for increasing the control of products at different critical steps of the food chain (control of raw materials, improvement of food processing, monitoring of storage and logistics, and control of safety and quality of final products) will be addressed by GoodFood with a vertical and horizontal integration of food, bio, and electronics experience for developing a set of systems with clear breakthrough solutions to specific safety and quality and traceability requirements. The proposed solutions will be also integrated under an Ambient Intelligence approach, which will allow fully interconnection and communication of multisensing systems.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 03.0228-4