Risk analysis for food safety

On December 7^th, Luxembourg welcomed within the framework of its visit to all the European Member States, the executive director of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Bernard Url. A meeting with all the national actors active in food security was organised. The national research institutes were invited to present their activities. The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) was represented by Dr Lucien Hoffmann, director of the "Environmental Research and Technology" (ERIN) department. In his presentation, Lucien Hoffmann highlighted the state-of-the-art equipment of ERIN's laboratories and of the Environmental and Climate Observatory. He also underlined the different domains related to food safety in which its department is active. Among the topics, it is worth mentioning the fate and transport of xenobiotics, waterborne pathogens, and nanotoxicology. A major research axis of the department is risk analysis. Lucien Hoffmann gave a few examples of projects conducted by ERIN, for example, on heavy metals in fish, polychlorobiphenyls in fish and seafood products, pesticides in food samples and drinking water, glycoalkaloids in potatoes, and mycotoxins. He also presented two methods developed by LIST, the first one for the detection of waterborne pathogens, the latter on fraud detection related to antibiotics in food. 

The meeting was very fruitful as new collaboration axes with EFSA have been identified in joint projects on risk analysis. 

For more information, visit the website of Securité Alimentaire.

Source Photo: Sécurité Alimentaire, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg