IMPRESS

IMPRoved food safety monitoring through Enhanced imaging nanoplaSmonicS

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The objective of the IMPRESS project is to develop an affordable, portable, multiplexing and flexible Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) biosensor device (the IMPRESSOR), based on Plasmore’s nanotechnology expertise, to obtain a fast impression of the quality and safety of food. Affordable: the system will be affordable for any small or medium enterprise or even private user, which is producing or distributing or consuming food in any country or region of the world. Portable: the system will be easy-to-use in any environment and must work outside any specialized laboratory. Multiplexed: the system will be able to measure the concentration of many contaminants in a single sample of food and within a single measurement. Flexible: the system is designed to develop assays according to the wishes of the future users (customized). Fast: measurements are done in minutes and the sample-to-result time will be around 30 minutes. This will allow the real time monitoring of the quality of food. This system will be constituted by two fundamental elements: 1) A disposable biochip customized for the detection of a set of parameters of the quality of the food (e.g. the detection of a set of allergens, toxins or antibiotics) and 2) an electronic reading system enabling the dispensing and the analytical screening of the food sample and the electronic evaluation, storage and communication of the results. Such a system will have a huge impact in the food monitoring protocols and will significantly contribute to the spreading of alternative, fast and reliable analytical methods for food safety control. This will help: - industries and distributors to provide safer and healthier food products, - public regulatory bodies to improve the quality of the food control tests while reducing the assay costs, - end-users and small distributors to verify the quality of their everyday food products'

Introduzione (Teaser)

To ensure safety, food is monitored at various levels, from production to consumption. European scientists are developing a portable and flexible device to expedite the monitoring process.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

EU legislation regarding the quality of food is becoming stricter to ensure that monitoring takes place for animal residues, chemicals, pathogens or toxins. To assist in this, the EU-funded 'Improved food safety monitoring through enhanced imaging nanoplasmonics' (http://www.foodimpressor.eu (IMPRESS)) is developing a portable sensor device.

One of the main advantages of the IMPRESSOR system is its low cost, allowing its use by any enterprise that produces or distributes food. Also, it will facilitate the measurement of multiple contaminants in a single sample within 15 minutes.

The device consists of a disposable biochip customised to detect various parameters related to the quality of the food such as allergens or toxins. This is coupled to nanoplasmonic electronic reading system for the analysis and evaluation of results.

During the first period of the project, researchers have concentrated on the development of model immunoassays to detect gentamicin, bovine casein, peanut, hazelnoot, egg and soy in food products. They have also developed peptide targets for each food allergen and incorporated them as sensing probes in the biochip consumable. The multiplexed biochips and various monoclonal antibodies in combination with the prototype IMPRESSOR biosensor device are undergoing thorough testing with different food matrices.

Optimisation of fluidics , other hardware and software parameters are underway to improve the overall performance of the sensor. Project partners with complementary expertise on biosensor development, peptide synthesis and food safety control joined forces to achieve the goals of the study.

Adoption of the system by the industry and public regulatory bodies will affordably speed up food monitoring and improve the overall quality of food products.