Objective
Within the European meat sector the pork industry is crucial in terms of consumption and commercial importance; pork is the most produced and consumed meat in Europe (51%), as well as the most exported. However, pork is also responsible for a high number of verified outbreaks per year, with Salmonella, Yersinia, Listeria and Campylobacter representing practically all verified pork-associated infections in the EU in recent years. While large enterprises in the pork industry may be able to afford the regular application of expensive tests; for SMEs, which account for 94% of businesses in the European meat industry, these methods are mostly beyond economic reach, thus impeding their capability to comply with strict regulations. Consequently, Small producers in the pork industry are losing competitive advantages to larger and foreign competitors with the total number of businesses in the industry dropping by 1% a year. There is a clear need for an affordable solution for reliable pathogen detection which can be applied in Critical Control Points in small businesses in the pork industry.
The main objective of PassPork is to develop, validate and test an affordable, robust, rapid and reliable multi-pathogen detector for use by non-technical staff in the pork industry. The device will build upon a combination of immuno-chromatography, fluorescence labelling and optical scanner technologies, together with specific monoclonal antibodies, which will reach detection limit in the range of 10-100cfu/ml. The final product, a rapid pre-screening device for identifying Salmonella, Yersina, Listeria and Campylobacter in pork meat, will be manufactured and distributed by the project’s SMEs to businesses throughout the pork supply chain. With expected market price of €500/device and €3/test, the consortium estimated sales of approx. 10M€ after 5 years in the market.
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-SME-2012
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Funding Scheme
BSG-SME - Research for SMEsCoordinator
08940 Cornella De Llobregat Barcelona
Spain