Press releases

ICC Headquarters, Vienna 17 October 2011 - As ICC's Contribution to World Food Day- We are proud to announce the Invited Speakers for the 1^st ICC India International Grains Conference in Partnership with ICRISAT.

The ICC India Conference is being held in partnership with the CGIAR International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) based in Hyderabad.

Conference Theme:
Developments in Grain Science and Technology to Ensure High Quality, Safe and Healthy Grain-based Foods

The Conference is a unique opportunity to network with decision-makers in the Indian cereals and food industry and the food cereals, food and nutrition science community.

Dates and Venue:
Monday 16 - Wednesday 18 January, 2012, The Eros Hotel (operated by Hilton Hotels), New Delhi, India

Opening Address:

Dr. S. Ayyappan, Director General – Indian Council of Agricultural Research

Announced Confirmed Invited Speakers include:

• Dr B. Sesikeran - Director National Institute of Nutrition, India
• Dr Vilas Sinkar - VP Unilever Research, India
• Dr V. Prakash - President of the Indian Nutritional Society and former Director of the Central Food Technological Research Institute, India
• Dr Kiran Sharma - CEO ICRISAT's Agribusiness and Innovation Platform, India
• Dr V. Singh - CFTRI IndiaDr Divir Jayas - VP Research University of Manitoba, Canada
• Dr DS Brar - International Rice Research Institute, The Philippines
• Dr Kaisa Poutanen - VTT Finland and Coordinator EU HealthGrain Project, Finland
• Dr Peter Shewry - Rothamsted Research, UK
• Dr Frank Thielecke - Cereal Partners Worldwide, Switzerland
• Dr Meinolf Lindhauer - Max Rubner Nutrition and Food Institute, Germany
• Prof Wang Wei - Grain Storage Institute, China

(Vienna, 12 October 2011) The 3^rd MoniQA International Conference (September 27-29, Varna, Bulgaria) brought together more than 150 participants from around the globe to discuss food safety issues and their impact on the consumer. The event also hosted the official launch event of the MoniQA Association, a non-profit-distributing organisation dedicated to collaborative research promoting a more secure and safer food supply.

The 3^rd MoniQA International Conference, held in Varna, Bulgaria (September 27-29, 2011) brought together more than 150 international stakeholders from research, industry, authorities and consumer representatives to discuss "food safety and consumer protection". Sessions focused on risk, understanding and choice, food safety, food security and climate change, socio-economic impact of food safety regulations, allergens, emerging issues in food (such as nanotechnology) chemical contaminants and mycotoxins, research undertaken by young MoniQA scientists and food safety education curricula around the globe; all under the umbrella of the impact on consumers.

(Vienna, 14 June 2010) The 2^nd International MoniQA Conference in Krakow on June 8-10 2010 formed a multidisciplinary bridge between the daily concerns of citizens, economic considerations and food and nutrition science. In nine technical sessions the conference set out the state of the art concerning food safety standards, mycotoxins & phycotoxins, food allergens, chemical contaminants, microbiological contaminants, food additives, emerging technologies for food safety assessment and food authenticity.

The interdisciplinary nature of the conference was highlighted in the opening session, which featured presentations on EU legislation for food safety and socio-economic considerations (Frans Verstraete, DG Sanco, European Commission), safety considerations of engineered nanoparticles in food (Karen Tiede, FERA), the implications of risk perception for managing and communicating food risks to the public (Gene Rowe, IFR) and MoniQA, the global Network of Excellence contributing to reliable food safety analysis and better regulations (Roland Poms, ICC).

Other sessions included cross-disciplinary aspects as well, such as the impact of food safety standards on international trade and developing countries (Session 2), the impact of the Irish dioxin crisis (Session 5) as well as the question whether food contamination can and has been used as a terrorist weapon (Session 6), to name but a few. The presentations are available for download at the conference website http://krakow.moniqa.org.

The 3^rd International MoniQA Conference is scheduled for 27-29 September 2011, in Varna, Bulgaria.

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(Vienna, Shanghai, 28 May 2010) Dr. Roland E. Poms, ICC Secretary General and Coordinator of the MoniQA Network of Excellence, was invited to present MoniQA results and achievements at the World Exposition in Shanghai, China. MoniQA is among five EU funded projects that were invited by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health & Consumers (DG SANCO) to highlight its mission in a seminar on "Research for Healthy Life" to take place 6 June 2010 in Shanghai, China.

The "Research For Healthy Life" seminar included contributions by several high-level speakers, such as Bernard Van Goethem (acting Deputy Director General of DG SANCO), Antonio Di Giulio (Head of Unit "Food - Health - Well-being" - Directorate General for Research), Riitta Maijala (Director Risk Assessment, EFSA - European Food Safety Agency, Elke Anklam (European Commission's Joint Research Centre - JRC), Huailin Li (President of the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine), Yu Tawai (Director General Food Safety - Office Import/Export - AQSIQ) and others.

Only 5 EU funded projects were invited to present their results in the frame of this seminar: MoniQA (Monitoring and Qualtiy Assurance in the total food supply chain), PATHOGENCOMBAT (Fighting new pathogens in the food chain), VEG-i-Trade (Impact of climate change and globalisation on safety of fresh produce), FACET (Exposure assessment to food additives, flavourings and FCM) and Q-PORK (Animal welfare/zootechnics/food quality/consumer expectation).

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How to exploit the health-protective compounds of grains? What kind of role do cereal foods play in combating obesity or diabetes? Can whole grain products be tasty and attractive? Do consumers' attitudes differ in different countries? What attributes make cereal foods healthy?

These questions among others were set to the HEALTHGRAIN project of the European Union five years ago and the answers were presented at the Final HEALTHGRAIN Conference, 5-7 May 2010, in Lund, Sweden. Increase in intake of health-protective compounds and fractions of grains was the target of hundreds of scientists, plant breeders, millers, ingredient suppliers and experts in food industry in 17 European countries during the HEALTHGRAIN project. The final conference was entitled "Enhancing health benefits of cereal foods - results, perspectives and challenges", the meeting was attended by some 265 participants from around the globe. With the completion of the EU funded Integrated Project (2005-2010) on 31 May 2010, the HEALTHGRAIN Forum has been legally established as a non-for-profit association based on corporate memberships. The HEALTHGRAIN Forum will be the future platform to support the work for healthy cereals in the European diet. The aim is to continue the HEALTHGRAIN network to disseminate the many results arising from the work already done, and further to stimulate new research, facilitate international cooperation and bring together national research activities. The mission of the forum is to promote science-based concepts fully unlocking the health promoting potential in the entire grain food production chain to obtain healthy, convenient and appealing foods. The vision of the Forum is that grain-based foods assist consumers in health maintenance worldwide, help reduce health care costs and provide added value for companies in the production chain.

View the HEALTHGRAIN Press Releases