Environmental Monitoring of Food- and Waterborne Parasites (PARASITE HUNTER)
Project leader: Dr. Ivana Klun
Project collaborators: Dr. Duško Ćirović, Dr. Oliver Tošković, Dr. Aleksandra Penezić, Dr. Stanislav Simin, Dr. Aleksandra Uzelac, Vladimir Ćirković, Dragana Miličić, Nikola Betić, Neda Bogdanović, Ilija Pantelić
Project number: 2424
Duration of the project: 2024-2026.
Leading institution: Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade
Collaborating institutions: Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Institute of Meat Hygiene and Technology
Description of the project:
The increasing prevalence of food and waterborne parasitoses in humans and animals in Europe calls for the need for holistic surveillance to detect emerging threats and identify reservoirs of infection, so that public health authorities can be alerted in a timely manner. Systematic monitoring programs for most of the parasites which cause these diseases do not exist and most parasitoses are not notifiable, thus it is upon the scientific community to gather evidence of these silent epidemics, raise awareness and advocate for innovative and improved food safety measures to reduce disease burden.
PARASITE HUNTER aims to incorporate One Health principles in food safety, with a strong emphasis on environmental matrices, as the 21st century is characterized by significantly perturbed ecosystems due to anthropogenic disturbances. The impact of ecosystem health and wildlife on food safety will be evaluated and communication with stakeholders will be established. Standardized parasitological methods [sedimentation, (Mini)FLOTAC] and validated molecular techniques (multiplex qPCR, nested PCR) will be applied to detect, quantify, and assess viability (staining and in vitro culture) of food and waterborne parasites (FWP) of public health significance in various human and animal foods, water and soil in which the food is produced. This project aims to establish a data driven surveillance framework for FWP to improve food safety beyond the current standard by including monitoring of vulnerable groups (humans and animals) not covered by the current food safety legislation. Stakeholders will be engaged through questionnaires to assess the level of awareness regarding FWP and help draft a white paper with proposals to reduce/control the FWP burden. As a result of the project activities, a sustainable, state of the art FWP surveillance program for timely identification of emerging threats to public health, and stakeholder approved measures to improve food safety are expected.
Тип пројекта:
National Projects