Food Safety
The Food Safety research group looks at many aspects of food safety pertaining to microbiological and chemical threats which can arise in the food supply chain. The expertise within the group is highly diverse but extremely complementary with the result that a cross fertilization of ideas and scientific methods emanates.
The research is performed in a suite of state-of-the-art laboratories located on the main University Campus within the David Keir Building and Medical Biology Centre.
The research group is headed by Professor Chris Elliott (chris.elliott@qub.ac.uk) and is divided into four main areas:
- Microbiology - Dr Irene Grant
- Drugs - Dr Chen Situ
- Endocrine disrupting chemicals (Man-made Toxins) - Dr Lisa Connolly
- Natural toxins - Professor Chris Elliott
All of the research areas are linked by two strong themes:
- Development and application of new and emerging technologies aimed at detecting the presence of harmful contaminants present in foods
- Determining the often complex cause of how the contaminations arise
Relationships with other research organizations and major international companies
Professor Chris Elliott and his colleagues have developed a large network of local, national and international collaborations research links with many academic institutes, government research centres and biotechnology and food companies.
Food production is one of the world's true global economies and the agri-food sector within Northern Ireland remains one of its most important industries. The Food Safety group at Queen's performs research of international importance but links this to the needs of local companies who sell their produce into the international market place.
Strong links with a wide range of major national and international companies have been forged. Within Northern Ireland joint research is conducted with companies such as Moypark Poultry, O'Kanes Poultry and Dale Farm. On the international front research is sponsored by global companies such as Nestle, Switzerland, and GE Healthcare, Sweden.
Research Funding
The food safety group has been successful in gaining substantial research funding from local and national Governments, All-Island research funding bodies, the European Commission and many food and biotechnology companies. The largest current research project is entitled:
BioCop: New Technologies to Monitor Food Contaminants in Foods (www.biocop.org)
Professor Elliott co-ordinates the large European Commission Integrated Research Project, BioCop, This is a 5 year (2005-2009), 14M euro research project comprising 32 partners from 14 EU countries and Canada. The development of innovative technology platforms based on transcriptomics, proteomics and biosensor technologies to detect a wide range of chemical contaminants in foods is the major goal of the project.
