HMCS | Handheld Molecular Contaminant Screener

Summary
There is an ever-increasing need for real time detection for risk related substances (e.g. pesticides, bacteria and antibiotics) in agro and food products. Food quality, food frauds and food scandals are becoming a major issue these days. Prime examples of recent food disasters are the Fipronil Dutch egg scandal and Salmonella French baby milk scandal. These scandals have not only resulted in health effects but also resulted in massive economic losses (> € 600m), losses in jobs and damage of the reputation of the European agro and food industry which takes pride in being the best in the world. Current high-end screening methods are laboratory based which are time consuming (5-12 days) and expensive (€200 per hour of testing cost at central labs). By the time results are out, food is already in the processing stage or in the supermarkets. We propose real-time detection of risk related substance using handheld molecular contaminant screener (HMCS) based on a novel portable mass spectrometry technology. With HMCS rather than bringing the sample to the lab you bring the lab to the sample. HMCS enables food companies to test food or food products for contaminants before collecting food from the farms and at various stages of the food value chain. We have validated by speaking with customers such as Freisland Campina (the world’s largest dairy co-operative) and Vion food group to name a few who indicated to pilot HMCS based on the success of feasibility study.

The feasibility study in phase 1 will technically validate the value of HMCS validate in terms of sensitivity (parts-per-billion), portability (< 9kg) and speed of detection (< 30 seconds). The economic feasibility study should provide lacking information about the decision making unit (farmer-food companies relationship) in order to validate the business plan.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/854670
Start date: 01-02-2019
End date: 31-07-2019
Total budget - Public funding: 71 429,00 Euro - 50 000,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

There is an ever-increasing need for real time detection for risk related substances (e.g. pesticides, bacteria and antibiotics) in agro and food products. Food quality, food frauds and food scandals are becoming a major issue these days. Prime examples of recent food disasters are the Fipronil Dutch egg scandal and Salmonella French baby milk scandal. These scandals have not only resulted in health effects but also resulted in massive economic losses (> € 600m), losses in jobs and damage of the reputation of the European agro and food industry which takes pride in being the best in the world. Current high-end screening methods are laboratory based which are time consuming (5-12 days) and expensive (€200 per hour of testing cost at central labs). By the time results are out, food is already in the processing stage or in the supermarkets. We propose real-time detection of risk related substance using handheld molecular contaminant screener (HMCS) based on a novel portable mass spectrometry technology. With HMCS rather than bringing the sample to the lab you bring the lab to the sample. HMCS enables food companies to test food or food products for contaminants before collecting food from the farms and at various stages of the food value chain. We have validated by speaking with customers such as Freisland Campina (the world’s largest dairy co-operative) and Vion food group to name a few who indicated to pilot HMCS based on the success of feasibility study.

The feasibility study in phase 1 will technically validate the value of HMCS validate in terms of sensitivity (parts-per-billion), portability (< 9kg) and speed of detection (< 30 seconds). The economic feasibility study should provide lacking information about the decision making unit (farmer-food companies relationship) in order to validate the business plan.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

Update Date

27-10-2022
Geographical location(s)
Structured mapping
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EU-Programme-Call
Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.2. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP
H2020-EU.2.1. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
H2020-EU.2.1.0. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Cross-cutting calls
H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
H2020-EU.2.3. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
H2020-EU.2.3.0. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs - Cross-cutting calls
H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
H2020-EU.3. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES
H2020-EU.3.0. Cross-cutting call topics
H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1