The symposium will address the following themes and topics:
1. Food authenticity and fighting food fraud
• Methods and systems to support food authenticity and combat food fraud
• Isotopic and elemental analysis for food authenticity and verification of production and geographical origin
• Field-deployable methods to check food authenticity at the point of contact
• Promotion of food authenticity for food safety and to improve nutrition
2. Food and phytosanitary irradiation
• Food irradiation to maintain and extend food quality, minimise pathogens in food and food packaging
• Phytosanitary applications of food irradiation to meet pest quarantine requirements
• Advances in machine source irradiation using electron beam and X rays including soft beam (keV) technologies
• Dosimetry and dose modelling for process control
3. Chemical residues and contaminants in food and feed
• Detection and control of chemical residues and contaminants in food and feed to protect human and animal health
• Contributing to antimicrobial resistance knowledge and control through antimicrobial residue monitoring
• Building resilience to climate change - laboratory capability to identify and respond to changing contamination patterns
4. Preparing for and responding to emergencies and incidents affecting the food supply
• Rapid, field-deployable screening tests for food contaminants
• Methodology to help trace contaminated products to origin
• Laboratory networks for fast response and communication
• Food irradiation for long-life emergency rations (for responders and those affected)
5. Detection and characterization of pathogens in food
• Nuclear and related techniques for the detection of pathogens in food
• Contributing to antimicrobial resistance knowledge and control through the detection and characterization of antimicrobial resistant organisms
6. Standard setting and risk assessment
• Procedures and engagement with Codex Alimentarius
• Irradiation dosimetry and generic treatments
• Risk-based food safety and control
• Labs and networks using nuclear-related methods to meet food safety/quality equivalence standards for trade
7. One Health
• Holistic approaches to human, animal and environmental health
