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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FoodSmartphone (Smartphone analyzers for on-site testing of food quality and safety)

Teaser

Summary

INTRODUCTION
Imagine how many samples are being taken in national monitoring plans within the European Union for food quality and safety testing: millions each year again and again. Typically, all these samples are taken on-site at farms, slaughterhouses, border inspection points, retail shops, etc., documented, transported to a control laboratory, screened for target substances such as food contaminants and drug residues, and finally the few suspects from the screening methods have to be confirmed by validated instrumental methods in order to declare the sample non-compliant or compliant. Despite all these efforts, we are still facing frequent food incidents and fraud issues. A paradigm shift in food quality and safety testing is required in order to free resources for an intensified combat against fraud in the food chain. As an enabling technology solution to the problem, FoodSmartphone proposes the development of smartphone-based (bio)analytical sensing and diagnostic tools, for simplified on-site pre-screening of quality and safety parameters and wireless data transfer to servers of relevant stakeholders. Bioanalytical chemists, biologists, physicists, micro/nanotech engineers, mathematicians, organic- and food chemists will work together on the joint supra-disciplinary goal. FoodSmartphone offers the 11 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) an extensive programme of network-wide training events and intersectoral secondments. The scientific training in novel smartphone-based technologies plus the complementary skills training provided, will have a major impact on future EU monitoring practices and, moreover, pave the road for Citizen Science.

OVERALL OBJECTIVES of the FoodSmartphone European Training Network:
(1) To study the supra-disciplinary challenge of smartphone-based analysis systems having advanced biorecognition, signal transduction, microfluidic sample handling and image data handling solutions.
(2) To develop user-friendly, rapid integrated sample preparation and smartphone-compatible Apps, to ultimately ensure adequate field implementation for both professionals and future Citizen Science.
(3) To develop a unique range of smartphone-based on-site screening demonstrators for food quality and safety issues of concern, viz. for pesticides, allergens, mycotoxins, food spoilage organisms and marine toxins.
(4) To deliver, through high level training, a group of multidisciplinary scientists who can integrate (bio)analytical chemistry, physics, micro-engineering and ICT knowledge into a common supra-disciplinary goal, to combat major socio-economic challenges, such as maintaining a healthy, safe and fair food supply.

Work performed

WORK PERFORMED IN 2017
All 11 ESRs were recruited in year 1 following a local-but-harmonized procedure which was agreed and outlined during the kick-off meeting in January 2017. An effective management structure has been established that includes, a.o., an ESR council and an Advisory Board. In 2017, the Supervisory Board (SB) has been heavily involved in the har-monization of recruitment through monthly teleconferencing. For each ESR, a personal career and de-velopment plan (PCDP), data management plan (DMP) and recruitment file has been documented and approved by the SB (except for the latest ESR). Furthermore, the SB assured timely submission and approval of all Deliverables and Milestones scheduled for year 1 in the Grant Agreement (GA). FoodSmartphone has implemented a Dissemination and Outreach strategy. Apart from the usual scientific dissemination channels, a public website (incl. stakeholder database), e-Newsletters, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Researchgate accounts were established. The ESRs write a weekly blog about their daily life on the internet. FoodSmartphone is very active on Twitter, which also feeds our internet and facebook pages. An Open Days event with demoâ€™s, videoâ€™s and explana-tions was organised at the leading conference on Recent Advances in Food Analysis (RAFA2017). The videos have been uploaded onto our FoodSmartphone YouTube channel.

WORK PERFORMED IN 2018
In the second year the ESRs started to generate their first exciting scientific results. Meanwhile, they were following network-wide and local scientific and complementary skills courses.
Here we summarize a few highlights as an illustration of the achievements in reporting period 1 versus the overall objectives listed above:
-Advanced biorecognition has been achieved through the immobilization of aptamers and bioactivity related enzymes for biorecognition of aflatoxin and pesticides, respectively, and detailed in deliverable reports D1.1-D1.3.
-Advanced optical signal transduction has been achieved through the development of nanostars and nanorods for label-free localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) detection (deliverable report D2.1) and carbon nanoparticles for labelled detection schemes (published paper).
-Advanced microfluidic sample handling has been achieved through the design and development of novel robust unibody lab-on-chip devices. Advanced image data handling solutions were successfully developed for smartphone optical reading of strip tests.
-The great awareness of user-friendly design and prototyping yielded two published review papers and a web-tool for selection of biosensors. The challenge for rapid tests has been addressed as well and yielded the fastest hazelnut allergen strip test prototype ever (visible result <30 s, published paper).
-The development of on-site demonstrators is, obviously, mainly scheduled during the next reporting period. Nevertheless, we have achieved already initial applicability for allergens in cookies and antibiotics in milk.
-Up till now 12 different ESRs have been hired by the FoodSmartphone project, full details of them can be found in Annex I to the periodic report. The training program, including network-wide summer schools and the secondments program, is in full swing and yielded meaningful collaboration between different disciplines and different sectors, thus accelerating scientific progress.
-The impact on the career perspectives became already evident since three ESRs resigned in 2018, two of them taking a new job in industry. From these 3 ESR vacant positions one was filled again in September 2018, a second position is likely to be filled February 2019 and the third vacancy is pending visa and other local administrative issues.

Final results

The scientific progress beyond the state-of-the-art is already evident from four published peer-reviewed scientific papers in high impact journals and a few pending review, and from a range of accepted oral and poster presentations at leading conferences and workshops. Given the fact that most of our ESR projects are only 18 months underway, the socio-economic impact of the project will become more evident in the second reporting period. Nevertheless, the FoodSmartphone project has already been clearly recognized by different and relevant stakeholders resulting in, a.o., a range of invited oral presentations in 2019 at the 7th Seminar European Customs Chemists (SECC 2019), at the 133rd AOAC International Annual Meeting (AOAC 2019), at the Pittcon Conference 2019, at the Food and Feed 4.0 Conference and at the 9th Recent Advances in Food Analysis (RAFA 2019) symposium.