Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TEST4ALL (ANTIBIOTICS CONTROL FOR ALL)

Teaser

The World Health Organization considers the antibiotic resistance as one of the three greatest threats to human health for the next decades.The great benefit of antibiotics in animal production makes the farm sector the major user of these medicines creating a high risk to...

Summary

The World Health Organization considers the antibiotic resistance as one of the three greatest threats to human health for the next decades.

The great benefit of antibiotics in animal production makes the farm sector the major user of these medicines creating a high risk to find contaminated food with antibiotic residues. Since the EU has strong regulations in this aspect, this can cause negative consequences to the dairy industry and public health:

1. High economical loses due to milk destruction by incineration.
2. Big technological problems to companies manufacturing fermented foods (cheese, yogurt, etc).
3. Public health issues related to antibiotic resistances.

According to EU legislation all food operators are responsible for food safety. Unfortunately, the majority of food controls are done at food plants or laboratories. So, there are limited opportunities for the milk sector to manage food risks on-site (i.e. at farms or during transportation), at any time and made by any operator.

ZEULAB is developing a novel antibiotic residues detection system. Test4all is the first automatic system that makes the results available in real time. These unique features will allow farmers to do easy self-controls before supplying the milk and dairies to screen antibiotics during the milk transport in trucks. Test4all is based on a small portable device that makes an easy biological test. This device is managed by a smartphone App connected to a secure internet cloud. So, farmers and dairies will have available all their results at anytime and anywhere.

Work performed

The challenge of Test4all project is the development an affordable and simple solution for on-site antibiotic residues detection. This solution has to be designed for any kind of operators (farmers, truck drivers or laboratory technicians) and results must be available in real-time in an internet cloud. Based on these needs, ZEULAB has developed during the first year the following objectives:

-A small and portable Test4all device affordable for any end-user.
-A ready-to-use single test adapted to non-laboratory end-users. The individual test cartridge design will allow to farmers and truck-drivers to test the milk everywhere.
-And APP to manage the Test4all device with the smartphone and to connect with the Test4all cloud.
-An internet cloud to access to all information in real-time by registered users.
-A market study with end-users in different European countries to asses all functionalities of the system and to improve the final solution.

Final results

Test4all is the new generation of antibiotics control designed to do on-site analysis at farms and dairy trucks. It is the first system that performs the assay automatically and makes the results available interconnecting farmers and dairies in real-time.
Milk farms and dairy plants are closely linked. Each dairy plant collects milk from farmers on daily basis. The agreement that regulates this relationship includes in most cases the standards to control the antibiotic residues. So, farmers and dairies need to cooperate in order to guarantee milk free of antibiotics. Test4all is the first system that connects in real-time the whole milk chain, from small farmers in rural areas to big modern dairies.

The implementation of Test4all solution will represent important economic benefits for all milk operators:

• Farmers will optimize the production yields and will avoid economical and legal penalties from milk processors or authorities.
• Dairies will save time and money if truck drivers and farmers send information of test results in real-time. Quality Managers will have available full traceability of daily milk collected. Data analytics based on big data tools will enable to optimize the collection process.

Test4all innovation will also contribute to other benefits to society:

• The prevention of unexpected milk contamination
• The opportunity to make data analytics based on big data tools will help to increase the milk safety.
• A cooperative work between farmers and dairies by sharing information in real-time. This new way of working will make more sustainable the milk production.

The project results will allow ZEULAB to:

• Have a new generation of product to compete in the current markets and enter in new ones.
• Get the confidence of the market by the support of the international certifications.
• Have the resources to disseminate the new concept to the main stakeholders.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.test4all.net/.