Jesús Simal incorpórase ao comité internacional mixto FAO/OMS que avalía a seguridade dos aditivos alimentarios

 

A Organización Mundial da Saúde (OMS) e a Organización das Nacións Unidas para a Alimentación e a Agricultura (FAO) crearon en 1956 o Comité Mixto de Expertos e Aditivos Alimentarios (JECFA). Inicialmente encargado da avaliar a inocuidade dos aditivos alimentarios, na actualidade o JECFA ocúpase tamén da valoración de riscos e inocuidade de coadyuvantes de elaboración, aromatizantes, residuos de medicamentos veterinarios en produtos animais, contaminantes e toxinas naturais, avaliando durante estas décadas máis de 2500 aditivos alimentarios, uns 40 contaminantes e toxinas naturais e residuos duns 90 medicamentos veterinarios. Actividades ás que a partir de agora sumará a súa experiencia e coñecementos o catedrático da UVigo Jesús Simal, trala súa recente incorporación ao JECFA, que unicamente conta con Simal e a docente da Universidad Miguel Hernández, María Fernández, como representantes españois.

“Para min, que ademais traballo en equipo nun ambiente internacional, supón poder contribuír á seguridade e inocuidade dos alimentos, minimizando os riscos químicos na cadea alimentaria e axudarame a estar ao día nestes temas, ademais de abrirme a porta a colaboracións internacionais na materia e impulsar colaboracións con outros, ao ter a oportunidade de incidir nas políticas públicas”, explica o docente e investigador do Departamento de Química Analítica e Alimentaria da UVigo sobre a súa inclusión no Comité Mixto FAO/OMS de Expertos en Aditivos Alimentarios. A súa pertenza ao Comité Científico de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición da Agencia Española de Consumo, Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Aecosan) e os coñecementos como catedrático na área de nutrición e bromatoloxía, considera Simal que son as achegas que pode realizar ao JECFA, no que “podo contribuír a axudar no desenvolvemento integral de expertos, uso de ferramentas dixitais ou promoción de competencias brandas, como motivación pola aprendizaxe continua, compromiso e transparencia, flexibilidade e versatilidade, xestión do tempo, superación, etc.”.

Simal e os e as expertas que integran o comité ofrecerán asesoramento científico para o establecemento das normas mundiais de inocuidade dos alimentos do Codex Alimentarius, entre outras. “Todos os países necesitan ter acceso a avaliacións fiables de riscos das substancias químicas utilizadas nos alimentos, pero relativamente poucos contan cos coñecementos e fondos necesarios para facer avaliacións individuais e JECFA cumpre unha función vital ao proporcionar unha fonte axeitada de asesoramento de expertos, que algúns países utilizan para elaborar os seus propios programas de regulamentación”, explica o catedrático da UVigo.

Para aditivos alimentarios, contaminantes e substancias tóxicas naturalmente presentes nos alimentos, o comité establece principios para avaliar a súa inocuidade, realiza valoracións toxicolóxicas e determina inxestións diarias admisibles (IDA) ou tolerables. No caso dos residuos de medicamentos veterinarios nos alimentos, JECFA elabora principios para avaliar a súa inocuidade e establece as inxestións diarias e recomenda límites máximos de residuos. “No caso dos aditivos alimentarios, o comité establece normalmente as IDA sobre a base da información toxicolóxica e demais información pertinente dispoñible, ademais de elaborar especificacións de identidade e pureza para os aditivos, que contribúen a garantir que o produto que entre no comercio sexa da calidade apropiada, poida ser fabricado normalmente e sexa equivalente ao material sometido ao ensaio toxicolóxico”, detalla Jesús Simal.

Para os medicamentos veterinarios, o comité avalía os datos sobre boas prácticas e recomendan os correspondentes límites máximos de residuos nos tecidos dos animais, o leite e/os ovos, coa finalidade de asegurar que cando o medicamento se utilizar axeitadamente, a inxestión de residuos do medicamento presente nos alimentos probablemente non superará a IDA correspondente

Fonte: DUVI

A UVigo participa nunha investigación europea para desentrañar o potencial do microbioma do trigo e desenvolver alimentos e pensos máis sans e sostibles

Xunto á UVigo, a Universitat de València e as empresas Contactica, Isanatur Spain e Editorial Agrícola Española conforman a representación española no proxecto que ten como obxectivo principal comprender de que modo a microbiota impacta, dunha banda, o cultivo do trigo e a calidade nutricional de forma xeral e específica, respecto ás proteínas causantes la enfermidade celíaca; a produción de novos alimentos para humanos e animais usando microbiota autóctona con carácter probiótico, así como outros microorganismos con coñecida capacidade probiótica; a percepción de sabor a través do estudo da interacción composición alimento-microbiota, alimento-microbiota humana, e o impacto na saúde a través dos estudo da interacción composición alimento microbiota, alimento-microbiota humana.

“Contamos con expertos das áreas de edafoloxía e química agrícola, ciencia e tecnoloxía dos alimentos e nutrición, alimentación animal e ciencias veterinarias, bioloxía molecular e celular e nutrixenómica e estudos clínicos”, detalla a coordinadora de Wheatbiome, que engade que este traballo será complementado con expertos en transferencia de coñecemento (formación ao sector primario), a industria alimentaria (encargada dos prototipos de alimentos a testar en humanos) e un equipo de bioinformáticos, para desenvolver unha ferramenta de toma de decisións nunha perspectiva transnacional para modelizar os datos obtidos para predicir comportamentos futuros. 

En canto ao papel que a UVigo desenvolve no proxecto Wheatbiome, o catedrático Jesús Simal sinala que “se centra en investigar os efectos dos novos produtos derivados do trigo, fermentados ou non, na súa calidade hixiénico-sanitaria e nutricional e a riqueza en compostos bioactivos, realizando estudos de proteómica e metabolómica, así como estudos de interacción entre proteínas e compostos bioactivos, determinando a súa bioaccesibilidade  e a bioctividade de propiedades antioxidante, prebiótica e antiinflamatoria en ensaios in vitro, para entender os potenciais efectos dietéticos do seu consumo animal e humano”, detalla o docente e investigador o Departamento de Química analítica e alimentaria. Estes traballos serán realizados na área de Nutrición e Bromatoloxía, da calidade hixiénico-sanitaria e nutricional e a riqueza en compostos bioactivos encargarase o grupo de investigación AA1, liderado polo catedrático Jesús Simal e os estudos de interacción molecular, bioaccesibilidade  e a bioctividades serán desenvolvidos no CF1, baixo a dirección de Rosa Pérez.

Con 5 millóns de euros de orzamento, a investigación prolongarase ata decembro de 2026

Fonte: DUVI

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AA1 group in two new CYTED networks

 

AA1 group participates in two new international cooperation networks with Latin America under the protection of CYTED.

The first of them with the acronym GENOPSYSEN deals with the development of genosensors for pharmacogenomic targets of the central nervous system. The second is Ibero-Circular. It is an Ibero-American innovation network for the sustainability of the food value chain. Both initiatives will be developed between 2023 and 2026.

2nd European Symposium on Phytochemicals in Medicine and Food

 June 27 – July 2, 2023, Vigo, Spain

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we are delighted to invite you to attend the 2nd European Symposium on Phytochemicals in Medicine and Food, June 27 – July 2, 2023, Vigo, Spain (2-EuSPMF). 2-EuSPMF is organized by the International Association of Dietetic Nutrition and Safety (IADNS) and the University of Vigo. 2-EuSPMF aims to explore the recent advances in the area of phytochemicals in medicine and food. We hope to bring together scientists of all ages to provide an excellent platform for exchanging ideas, discussing challenges, sharing success stories and setting up new research collaborations. Your active participation will certainly make 2-EuSPMF symposium a great success. 

Vigo is an often forgotten coastal city in the north of Spain. Besides its walkable cultural centre, this city benefits from its proximity to the beach, such as Playa del Vao and Playa de Samil. Vigo is also the main getaway to the heavenly Illas Cíes, the remote islands you can only access by boat. The Old Town, also known as Casco Vello, is the city’s heart, packed with lively bars and restaurants serving delicious Galician dishes. Vigo is only 30km from Portugal, allowing you to enjoy day trips across both countries. 

 Welcome to beautiful Vigo!    

Call for papers

Registration informations

Toxins 2022 Young Investigator Award

The scientist Paz Otero Fuertes, from the Agricultural and Food Research Group of the University of Vigo, has just been distinguished by Toxins magazine as the best young researcher of the year 2022. This award, the Toxins 2022 Young Investigator Award, is given each year to a scientist or junior scientist in recognition of her excellence in the field of toxinology, the branch of toxicology that studies biological toxins, that is, produced by animals, plants or microorganisms.

The jury values that the candidates have developed innovative research and made an important contribution to the advancement of toxinology and knowledge about all types of toxins and, in the case of Paz Otero, they emphasize that he has participated in multiple research projects and published 56 scientific articles, from which 20 are as first author or corresponding author; ten book chapters, four of them as main author; ten conference proceedings, as well as having a Hirsch index of 27.

This award is a recognition of his entire professional career, developed first at the University of Santiago de Compostela, then at the Limerick Institute of Technology and the Autonomous University of Madrid and, finally, at UVigo. His work focuses on the field of food safety, toxinology, pharmacology, marine bioactive compounds, microalgae, purification or phycotoxins, cyanotoxins and mycotoxins. Although this is the first distinction she has received since she arrived at the University of Vigo, she was previously the recipient, during her stay in Ireland, of an award from the Irish Research Council.

At UVigo since 2020

Paz Otero has been, since December 2020, a researcher in the Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, specifically in the Agricultural and Food Research Group (AA1), where they are managing "a new laboratory to be able to continue growing as a research group and being able to develop new projects and lines of research", as the scientist reports.

Before his arrival at UVigo, Otero worked on two European projects of the Espazo Atlántico Program focused on discovering new marine compounds on the Atlantic coast (Pharmatlantic 2009-1/117 and Atlantox 2008-1/), both at the University of Santiago de Compostela. In addition, she was selected by the Irish Research Council (IRC) with the project Dettox: Production, extraction, and detection systems for new marine phycotoxins in Europe, of which she was the main researcher, focused on the detection of marine toxins.

He is currently working on the development of a sustainable and profitable production process for the recycling of by-products of olives, grapes and almonds into four natural and healthy ingredients for nutraceutical and cosmetic applications, in the context of the "ambitious" European project UP4Health. This initiative is driven by a consortium of ten European institutions, in which, in addition to UVigo, Isanatur (coordinator), Contactica, Laboratorios Amerex, Aurora Intelligent Nutrition and Indukern, from Spain, participate; Zade Vital, from Turkey; Biozoon, from Germany; the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, from Portugal, and the Technological University Dublin, from Ireland. As the researcher explains, "the by-products generated as a result of the processing of these foods are a valuable source of bioactive compounds and have demonstrated interesting antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties". These four ingredients that researchers look for in these products are natural polyphenol-rich aqueous fruit extract, polyphenol-enriched dietary fiber, natural fruit oil extracts, and oligosaccharides.

Impact of climate change on food security

Paz Otero values the reception of this award as "something very positive to give visibility in society to the impact of natural toxins" and, in general, to put the focus "on the research that is carried out in the area of toxinology", since from his point of view in view "there is a lack of knowledge about mycotoxins, biotoxins and how they reach seafood and crops and their impact on health". In this sense, Otero points out that climate change is expected to "affect the safety of food and feed, including the appearance of new emerging natural toxins", so this is precisely "a 'trending topic' in the area of nutrition and technology of food”.

Receiving this award means for the UVigo researcher a cash prize of 2000 Swiss francs as well as the publication of a work in the journal Toxins after peer review before the end of December 2023 and an electronic certificate.