Safe organic vegetables and vegetable products by reducing risk factors and sources of fungal contaminants throughout the production chain: the carrot - Alternaria model

PROPOSAL: QLK1-1999-00986 ACRONYM SAFE ORGANIC VEGETABLES
AREA: FP5 - QoL, 5/ 1:Food, Nutrition and Health 1 - Development of safe and flexible and new and/or improved manufacturing processes and technologies Call number / date: 1a
PROJECT TYPE: Shared Cost EU CONTRIBUTION: 1,299,189
STARTING DATE: 01/01/00 DURATION: 48 months

Coordinator: Dr. R.W. van den Bulk, Plant Research International B.V., BU Plant Development and Reproduction, P.O. Box 16, NL -6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands, Email: r.w.vandenbulk@plant.wag-ur.nl

Project Description:
European agriculture is confronted with a growing demand of consumers for organic vegetables. However, undesirable components such as mycotoxins, fungal poisons which can produce toxic syndromes in humans and animals, pose a challenge to the safety of organic vegetable products. In order to ensure a safe organic food supply, such mycotoxin risks have to be minimised. OBJECTIVE The objective of the project is to develop strategies for a safe organic food supply by developing detection methods, identifying mycotoxin risks in the production chain, determining the critical control points, and developing preventive measures. The research will be performed using the model system carrot - Alternaria. Carrot is one of the most popular organic vegetables bought by European consumers and is an important component of various organic food products, such as baby food and vegetable juices. The fungus Alternaria occurs on a wide variety of crops and is a known producer of harmful mycotoxins. It can be found throughout the whole carrot production chain, from seed to end-products. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK Research is required to reduce contamination of carrots and products derived from them by mycotoxins, and will focus on: - Establishing rapid and precise methods for detection and quantification of Alternaria mycotoxins - Establishing the basic understanding of Alternaria mycotoxin production and accumulation in the whole production chain by: - Determining the physiological and genetic basis of production and accumulation of Alternaria mycotoxins - Monitoring mycotoxin production during crop production, storage and processing to determine critical control points in the production chain and to enable risk assessment - Developing control measures, acceptable to organic farmers, to prevent the introduction of Alternaria and mycotoxin accumulation, by - Developing tools to aid breeding for resistance to Alternaria diseases Improving the production of high quality, disease-free starting material under organic conditions - Developing alternative seed treatments to control Alternaria and to increase stress tolerance of seed and seedling - Optimzing storage conditions and developing post-harvest treatments to prevent Alternaria root rot and mycotoxin accumulation during storage - Developing a total strategy to reduce the risk of mycotoxins in organic vegetables and products derived from them EXPECTED RESULTS As a result of the basic understanding of Alternaria mycotoxin production and the strategies and materials developed to prevent the introduction of Alternaria spp. and accumulation of their mycotoxins in the production chain, it will be possible to produce safer organic carrots and processed products. This will contribute to improving the quality of life, in particular the health of the European consumer, protecting the environment and promoting organic farming systems. The obtained results should allow an extrapolation to other (organically grown) crops and food products where similar problems with Alternaria metabolites may occur, such as cabbage, onions, rice, cereals, and oils of sunflower, fennel, linseed, and rape. POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS It is foreseen that the results of this project will be used by EU regulatory bodies (e.g. SCF), standardisation bodies, food authorities and industrial end-users.

Project URL: www.seedcentre.nl/safe_organic_vegetables

Consortium:
Co-ordinator: Organisation: Plant Research International B.V. Droevendaalsesteeg 1 PO Box 60 6700 AA WAGENINGEN NETHERLANDS Participants Organisation: National Research Council of Italy Istituto Tossine e Micotossine 7 Piazzale Aldo Moro 7 00185 ROMA ITALY Organisation: The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University 13 Bulowsvej 17 1870 FREDERISKSBERG DENMARK Organisation: August Cieszkowski Agricultural University in Poznan ul. Wojska Polskiego 28 60 637 POZNAN POLAND Organisation: Daehnfeldt A/S Faaborgvej 248B 5100 ODENSE DENMARK Organisation: Rijk Zwaan Zaadteelt en Zaadhandel B.V . Burg. Crezeelaan 40 PO Box 40 2678 ZG DE LIER NETHERLANDS Organisation: Vilmorin S.A. Rue du Manoir 49250 La Menitre FRANCE


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