The Spring School and Workshop are dedicated to various perspectives of nanoparticles in food: either they may appear in food during production, packaging or cooking, or they are introduced to enrich taste, colour or consistency. As they are very small, they are difficult to detect in food, and require special techniques to characterise and analyse their interaction with cells and possible effect on human health.
The three-day Spring School will provide participants with the basic knowledge connected to these topics, while during the following two-day Workshop participants will get to know about selected techniques for nanoparticle detection and characterisation. Intense discussions and training by internationally renowned scientists in the field are planned. The training will be spiced up with everyday examples.
We invite participants from a broad area connected with food to attend both the Spring School and Workshop, however, attendance of only one or the other is also welcome.
Participation in the two events will be enriched by social events, giving the participants not only the opportunity for informal gathering with researchers from various fields but also to experience Ljubljana city, the boat trip and to taste the Slovenian cuisine.
Participation at the Spring school and workshop is free of charge, however, participants have to cover their own expenses of travel and accommodation.
Venue: Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, Ljubljana, Slovenia
The Summer School included theory and two days of hands-on experience in the laboratory. Understanding elemental speciation requires robust analytical methods with well-established methodologies for analysing food. The course addressed this by providing participants with an in-depth knowledge of trace element speciation using examples of essential and non-essential elements including Cr, Zn, Ni, Hg and As to teach and demonstrate the state-of-the art analytical approaches to the problem of trace element speciation. The lectures also covered the topic of nanoparticle residues in food. In total forty-five participants representing academia, industry and governmental and non-governmental organizations attended this free event.
From April 4 to April 7, 2017, ISO-FOOD organized a spring school for national stakeholders where the trainees got acquainted with the isotopic and chemometric methods for determination of geographical origin, authenticity and production regime of food products, such as wine, fruit juices, honey, milk products, bottled water, oils, vegetables etc. Following topics were covered:
backgrounds of isotope chemistry and application of stable isotopes for determination of the geographical origin of food
elemental analysis of foodstuffs and their components
stable isotope analysis of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and sulphur using isotope ratio mass spectrometry
compound-specific isotope analysis of food components and its relevance for determination of authenticity of food products
basic and multivariate statistical methods for data treatment
quality assurance and quality control
EU and national legislation
The lectures were given by the ERA Chair researchers and students and by guest speakers from the IJS Department of Low- and Medium-Energy Physics, Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Food Safety, Veterinary Sector and Plant Protection, and Institute of Oliveculture. During practical work in the laboratory, the trainees got acquainted with sample preparation, analytical instruments and procedures of water and honey isotope analysis, as well as data evaluation. The course was designed for graduate and postgraduate students, researches and experts dealing with food analysis and control with background in food technology, agronomy, dairying, viniculture, analytical chemistry or other relevant fields of science and biotechnics. The working language of the school was Slovene.
Determining the activity concentration of particular radionuclides in food and water is important to be able to study the cumulative radiation effects on human health, since the dose coefficients are always related to specific radionuclides. European legislation requires that member states obtain information about activity concentrations of radionuclides in food, feed and water. This summer school aims to provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out these tasks.
Topics
#1 Legislation
#2 Analytical techniques for determination of natural and man-made radionuclides
#3 Separation procedures
#4 Interpretation of results
#5 Statistics
#6 Uncertainty estimation
#7 Traceability and use of reference materials
#8 Interlaboratory comparison
Experience based learning
Both theory and practice will be combined throughout the course to give participants the opportunity to put the concepts learned into practice. Participants are encouraged to bring their own specific case studies/problems. Throughout the school participants work in small teams.
Participants profile
The summer school is designed for researchers (doctoral and postdoctoral level) and application scientist i.e. from the National Reference Laboratories and the Control Laboratories. A working knowledge of English is essential. Participants are requested to familiarise themselves with the ISO/IEC 17025 Standard.
The ISO-FOOD Hg Training Course “Quality assurance for Hg measurements in food and environmental samples” was organized from 25th to 27th November 2015, in Reactor Centre, Podgorica, Brinje 40, SI-1262 Dol pri Ljubljani.
From 25th to 27th November 2015, we will organize the ISO-FOOD Hg Training Course “Quality assurance for Hg measurements in food and environmental samples” at the Jožef Stefan Institute, Reactor center, Ljubljana, Slovenia. No participation fee is required. Travel and subsistence costs are not covered.
Registration opens on 28th May and closes on 17th July 2015!
The ISO-FOOD Hg Training Course “Quality assurance for Hg measurements in food and environmental samples” was organized from 25th to 27th November 2015, in Reactor Centre, Podgorica, Brinje 40, SI-1262 Dol pri Ljubljani. The photos from the training course are available in the following gallery.
Objectives
Mercury is a very hazardous substance for human health and the environment. The European legislation requires that adequate information on the presence of this element is obtained, but measuring reliably Hg contents, the Hg speciation or the Hg isotopic signature in food and environmental samples is challenging. This training course aims to provide you with the skills required to produce quality assured data.
Topics
#1 Traceability and use of CRM and RM
#2 Single laboratory validation
#3 Internal quality control
#4 Inter-laboratory comparisons
#5 Uncertainty evaluation
Experience based learning
Both theory and practice will be combined throughout the course to give you the opportunity to put the concepts learned into practice. You are encouraged to bring your own specific case studies/problems, so we can tailor the course to your specific needs.
Participants profile
The course is designed for early stage researchers (doctoral and postdoctoral level) and application scientists, i.e. from the National Reference Laboratories and the Official Control Laboratories from the EU network on ‘heavy metals’ in food and feed. A working knowledge of English is essential (written and spoken). You are requested to familiarise yourself with the ISO/IEC 17025 standard.
Four thematic Summer Schools will be organized for undergraduate and graduate students.
The students will spend a week in the laboratories of one or more of the participating Departments and will get acquainted with some novel analytical methods and techniques and will get the opportunity for practical work in the laboratory. Schools will be organized by the senior research staff of the Jožef Stefan Institute.
Four summer schools will be organized:
Radiochemical analysis of food (2015)
Authentication of food products by isotope and elemental fingerprinting (2016)
Element speciation in food analysis (2017)
Nanoparticles in foodstuffs (2018)
Calls for participants will be published about 6 months before the courses will begin.
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