The Project

Monitoring for Chemical Contaminant monitoring in foodstuffs is a highly important and complex issue. A huge investment in time and effort is placed on these activities by regulatory and industrial laboratories. As fresh demands from consumers and regulators grow to improve the food quality and safety, the need for improved technologies has never been greater. BioCop's innovative techniques will screen for multiple chemical contaminants in food to better support and ensure this goal.

The BioCop project has been constructed to supply regulators, consumers and industry with long-term solutions to the complex problems associated with chemical contaminant monitoring.

Rapid and efficient transcriptomics, proteomics and biosensor-based technologies are being developed in BioCop. These new systems will measure the effect of the contaminant(s) rather than single target compound concentrations. The 'biomarker and fingerprinting' concept is key to this strategy. Substantial advances in sample preparation will be achieved using novel procedures such as aptamers, microwave-assisted extraction and pressurised liquid extraction. Developed technologies will be validated to ensure that they meet the required standards. BioCop's industrial partners will commercialise these new technologies and the prototypes developed will be rigorously tested.

These new systems will be able to detect pesticides (organochlorines, stobilurins), heavy metals (lead, mercury), natural toxins produced by shellfish (paralytic shellfish poisons) and fungi (trichothecenes), therapeutic drugs (hormonal growth promoters, quinolone antimicrobials) and endocrine disrupters (phytoestrogens)...