Strengthening of the Italian Research Infrastructure for Metrology and Open Access Data in support to the Agrifood
Launch of the Call-for-Access for the Early Phase Implementation of METROFOOD-RI
METROFOOD-RI (of which METROFOOD-IT is the national node), recently entered its implementation phase, opens up to external contributions with the launch of two open calls for the provision of free services to users. The first, named "Characterization of fermentation processes and their bio-based derived products from the food industries – Remote access," is aimed at researchers/academics and companies interested in fermentation processes related to food products. In detail, through this first call, a free service is offered for the characterization and safety verification of the entire fermentation process and bio-based products derived from fermentation used in food processing and packaging.
The service includes the application of microorganism identification methods (metagenomics), microorganism characterization (metabolomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics), evaluation of the chemical composition of raw materials and/or finished products, identification of contaminants, characterization of biopolymers, migration studies, toxicity analysis, bioactivity testing of products, and much more. Remote access to the facilities of EUT (Spain), IJZSRM (North Macedonia), INSA (Portugal), and TUBITAK (Turkey) will be available.
The second call is titled "Pilots for food production and integrated analytical services: development of novel products with ingredients including alternative proteins and/or food by-products – Physical + Remote access". In this case, the objective is to create new products containing alternative proteins and/or food by-products. The service - integrated with a predefined set of combinatorial analytical services and food technologies - will involve the use of food by-products (e.g., from cereals) and innovative ingredients (e.g., insects) for the preparation of new ingredients and products. After producing and processing new ingredients or foods (finished products), related analytical services will focus on their sensory, nutritional characterization, health promotion, and safety evaluation. The service will be provided through a combination of physical and remote access via various METROFOOD-RI service providers. Physical access to experimental facilities and laboratories at IBA (Romania) and CZU (Czech Republic) and remote access to analytical laboratories at TUM (Germany), ENEA (Italy), AUTH (Greece), and JSI (Slovenia) will be available.
Access to METROFOOD-RI facilities will be provided free of charge (users will only be responsible for any additional shipping and travel expenses).
The deadline for submitting applications for both calls is set for April 15, 2024, by 12:00 noon.
As highlighted by Claudia Zoani, Coordinator of METROFOOD-RI, "These calls offer an important opportunity for all potentially interested users to access METROFOOD-RI facilities free of charge, thus utilizing our laboratories, facilities, and the support of our researchers to conduct research and development activities of their own interest. The infrastructure opens doors to researchers and companies in the agri-food sector, who can individually or in teams submit their own ideas and research projects. Selected proposals (based on scientific merit and technical feasibility) will be implemented during 2024”.