Abstract
The pan-European distributed Research Infrastructure for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition (METROFOOD-RI) has evolved in the frame of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) to promote high-quality metrology services across the food chain. The METROFOOD-RI comprises physical facilities and electronic facilities. The former includes Reference Material plants and analytical laboratories (the ‘Metro’ side) and also experimental fields/farms, processing/storage plants and kitchen-labs (the ‘Food’ side). The RI is currently prepared to apply for receiving the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) legal status and is organised to fulfil the requirements for operation at the national, European Union (EU) and international level. In this view, the METROFOOD-RI partners have recently reviewed the scientific plan and elaborated strategic priorities on key thematic areas of research in the food and nutrition domain to which they have expertise to contribute to meet global societal challenges and face unexpected emergencies. The present review summarises the methodology and main outcomes of the research study that helped to identify the key thematic areas from a metrological standpoint, to articulate critical and emerging issues and demands and to structure how the integrated facilities of the RI can operate in the first five years of operation as ERIC.
Highlights
Foods 2022, 11, 599 plan of services in the domain
There is a continuous need to develop new Reference Materials (RMs) with different matrix/analyte combinations to cover existing and emerging analytical requirements [9]. This demand is related to many factors, such as the increasing innovation in analytical techniques, the development of new analytical methods suitable to detect/determine new parameters of emerging interest, the development of new profiling approaches, and the need to support food safety and the accreditation of numerous laboratories, according to ISO/IEC 17025 requirements that led to greater demand for ensuring metrological traceability
The added value of METROFOOD-Research Infrastructures (RIs) is that its physical infrastructure allows to combine the plants for RM development and production, with the whole spectrum of analytical laboratories that can be used for any type of chemical, physicochemical, and microbiological characterisation, even for the development of new multipurpose-Reference Materials, as well as for homogeneity studies
Summary
The strategic priorities for Reference Materials and the major components of food integrity are illustrated in Figure 2 and discussed in the following subsections. GenFoods 2022, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEWeral concepts, METROFOOD-RI capacity and perspectives are presented for5eoafc2h4 of the thematic areas. KKeeyy tthheemmaatitcicaareraesascocvoevreedreidn itnhethMeEMTREOTRFOOOFDO-ORIDs-cRieInstcifiiecnptilafinc apnladnrealnevdarnecleevtoanthcee to the gglolobbaallaanndd EU ppoolliiccyyffrraammeweworokrkininthtehaegarigforiofdoosdecstoerc.tor
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