Scientists go healthy with probe into food origins
Monday June 23 2008
THERE is a new chicken and egg question on the lips of today's health conscious diners.
Exactly what did the farmer feed the chicken you served up for dinner last night?
And it's just one of a series of questions that scientists involved in a major EU food traceability project will be hoping to help answer when they gather in Dublin early next month.
The €11m research project Biotracer, which Teagasc is also involved in, aims to examine the problems of food and feed contamination.
The project will be helping governments and the public answer a series of food-related questions.
It hopes to help enlighten consumers on the region their milk comes from and exactly what the cows ate.
It asks what was in the pigs' troughs before you tucked into that pork chop, and if there is a recall of a food product, does the manufacturer know where the potentially-contaminated ingredients came from?
According to Kieran Jordan, from Teagasc's Moorepark Food Research Centre, the EU-funded project aims to "ensure consumer confidence in European food".
People's interest in the origins of their food is growing, he said. "There was shock-horror a few years ago when people became aware chickens were being imported from Thailand," he said.
The project will create tests and computer models to improve the tracing of accidental and deliberate microbial contamination of food and animal feed.
Researchers say a standard format for tracking and tracing biocontaminants in the food chain is necessary, with the numbers of EU members increasing and imports to Europe rising.
- Louise Hogan
