New! For MoniQA Members only we compiled important documents under Privileged Information at http://association.moniqa.org/members/privileged_information. Currently this page contains the most recent discussion paper on EC KBBE Calls of Theme 2, Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnologies , which is planned to be published in early summer 2012, a collection of free protocols and guidelines for method validation, MoniQA Career Centre - Jobs, Mobility and Exchange Grants, PhD Positions, Travel Bursaries, and past MoniQA Alerts. We appreciate your input, if you have information that you would like to share or if you are looking for relevant information that might be of interest to the network. Contact: roland [dot] poms [at] icc [dot] or [dot] at.

Mark Your Calendar! Continuing the successful series of MoniQA International Conferences (Rome, Italy, 2008; Krakow, Poland, 2010; Varna, Bulgaria, 2011), targeting participants from regulatory, industry, research and technology, method providers, media and consumer associations, the 4th MoniQA International Conference will be taking place in Budapest, Hungary, 26 February - 1 March 2013, conveniently scheduled just prior to the IAM ( Inter-Agency-Meeting) and Codex Alimentarius CCMAS 2013! Please mark your calendar now, and contact us, if you are interested to be involved in the organization of specific sessions related to "Food Safety: driven by Globalisation, Climate Change, Food Security and Economic Crises". Contact: roland [dot] poms [at] icc [dot] or [dot] at or tomoskozi [at] mail [dot] bme [dot] hu.

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Urgent! There is room for 2 additional international speakers in the Food Safety and Regulations Session at the 14th ICC Cereal and Bread Congress 2012 "Science and Technology Innovation for Healthy Cereals & Oils", Beijing, China, 6-9 August 2012 (www.ccoaonline.com/2012). The session is chaired by Prof. Meinolf Lindhauer, MBRI, Germany, and Bian Ke, ISO TC34, China. As the online abstract submission deadline is past, please submit your abstracts directly to roland [dot] poms [at] icc [dot] or [dot] at. Deadline: 30 April 2012.

MoniQA is organising a scientific session at the World Mycotoxin Forum "WMF meets IUPAC" Conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 5-9 November 2012. The session includes talks on MoniQA (Roland Poms, Austria), effects of processing on Deoxynivalenol and Zearalenone levels in wheat (Sine Yener, Turkey), an international ring trial for multi-mycotoxin LC-MS-MS analyis (Michele Solfrizzo, Italy), a socio-economic case study on mycotoxin levels in Turkey (Line Lindner, Austria), and matrix effects in mycotoxin determination by HPLC-MS (Alexandra Malachova, Czech Republic).

NEW! For MoniQA Members only we publish job and position openings and grants for senior and young researchers, managers, students, etc. in relevant fields of food safety and quality, food processing and product development, in the MoniQA Career Centre at http://association.moniqa.org/privileged_information/career_center.

1) Project Officer (full time) - PhD student post to work on the Development of Novel Disinfection Technologies for Fresh Produce (DiTec).

2) Travel bursary for attendance at IC-ANMBES 2012 (Analytical and Nano-analytical Methods for Biomedical and Environmental Sciences) organised by Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania.

3) 3-years Post-doc grant at the Research Unit of Food Technology at the Department of Food Science of the University of Teramo, Italy, on "Multi-factorial and multi-functional approach to study the physical, chemical and sensory stability of olive oil based o/w emulsions".

4) 2 Analytical experts for UNIDO HQ

EFSA publishes calls for tenders for all its procurement needs – services, goods, works or for the purchase or rental of a building.

Calls for tenders planned for launch in 2012 under EFSA‘s Annual Work Programme for Science Procurement Projects have been published on 8 February 2012. Several topics are relevant to food safety, food security and nutrition.

For details use the following link: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/procurement/tenders.htm

Brussels, 13 February 2012 – The European Commission has today adopted a strategy to shift the European economy towards greater and more sustainable use of renewable resources. With the world population approaching 9 billion by 2050 and natural resources finite, Europe needs renewable biological resources for secure and healthy food and feed, as well as for materials, energy, and other products. The Commission's strategy and action plan, “Innovating for Sustainable Growth: a Bioeconomy for Europe”, outlines a coherent, cross-sectoral and inter-disciplinary approach to the issue. The goal is a more innovative and low-emissions economy, reconciling demands for sustainable agriculture and fisheries, food security, and the sustainable use of renewable biological resources for industrial purposes, while ensuring biodiversity and environmental protection. The plan therefore focuses on three key aspects: developing new technologies and processes for the bioeconomy; developing markets and competitiveness in bioeconomy sectors; and pushing policymakers and stakeholders to work more closely together.

More info: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/124&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Mycotoxins are small (low-molecular weight) secondary metabolites (products of metabolism not essential for survival), produced by some filamentous fungi and often found in food. Chemically-diverse, they can cause disease and death to man and livestock. Adverse effects include tissue damage, immuno-suppression and neurological disorders following short- (acute) or long-term (chronic) exposure. In many countries, mycotoxin contamination is addressed by legislation. Successful management of mycotoxins is, however, effected thorough knowledge of their cause and implementation of appropriate control mechanisms, which are verified through use of reliable sampling and robust analytical methods. European Union Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) data suggest that harmonisation of mycotoxin detection methods would improve compliance at regulatory and commercial limits.

Further Information on the MoniQA NoE Website:

Download the factsheet

Mycotoxins Working Group

More factsheets

(Vienna, 5 September 2011) The EU funded MoniQA project is a very successful Network of Excellence which involves experts from around the globe working for safer foods by harmonising worldwide food quality and safety monitoring and control strategies. With EU funding ending on 31 January 2012, the work will continue through the newly set-up MoniQA Association, membership of which is open to all organisations with a commitment to food safety and security. 

The MoniQA Association is dedicated to international collaboration and research aimed at promoting a more secure and safer food supply, its activities include:

• Promoting the harmonisation of analytical approaches involved in food safety and quality
• Improving the knowledge-based bio economy through participation in relevant research programmes and facilitating bilateral/ multinational research collaboration agreements
• Providing the infrastructure for and establishing an international network for inter-laboratory validation trials for analytical methods and reference materials
• Disseminating and providing access to validated and robust data and information for food safety through, for example, online databases
• Sharing expertise and understanding through training courses, scientific conferences and symposia, international exchanges of researchers, technologists, engineers etc, expert consultancy,
• Publication especially but not exclusively through Quality Assurance of Crops & Food, which is jointly offered by ICC, the MoniQA Association and Wiley-Blackwell

The Next Generation - Join Now!

The MoniQA Association is an international group of organisations dedicated to collaborative research aimed at promoting a more secure and safer food supply. Benefits for you include access to new expertise, insight into new markets, networking and interest representation, training and CPP and robust and validated information. The association is registered according to Austrian law.

For more information click on "about" and  to join click here.

At a glance

Please find attached the most important documents about the MoniQA Association for download (PDF format).