EU funding supports rapid detection of COVID-19 on food processing surfaces

17 Jul 2020 --- A new partnership between five European companies and research institutions is receiving funding from the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT Food) to build a diagnostic platform to improve the on-site testing capacity of the food industry. The platform will help food companies to quickly detect the presence of Coronavirus on food processing surfaces. A key component of the platform is to deliver faster results, in less than one hour. 

“During the past few months, we have seen how COVID-19 can have a huge impact in the food industry, with meat factories having to shut down due to contamination and countries refusing to import certain foods due to fears of importing the virus through food. For this reason, companies need to be able to demonstrate their operations are free of SARS-CoV-2. While it may not be possible to test every single product that is sent out, testing food processing surfaces is a good way to guarantee their food and operations are safe,” Gianpaolo Rando, SwissDeCode CTO and Co-Founder tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“In light of the challenges faced by industry due to the COVID-19 crisis, fine monitoring of the virus will continue to be a must, even in a post-crisis phase. The platform developed will allow the food industry to minimize the chance of disruption caused by contaminated working environments or food products,” he says. 

The joint project is between SwissDeCode (CH), Microbion (IT), IATA CSIC (ES), University of Helsinki (FI) and Eurofins (FR), and has been awarded €790,000 (US$901,000) from the EIT Food, as part of the COVID-19 Rapid Response Call for Innovation projects. 

The platform is an automated testing device which will be installed directly at the food processing facilities, providing results in less than one hour with no need for complex instrumentation or specialized personnel. The flexibility of this technology allows the incorporation of a varied group of tests within the food industry, including other emerging viruses.

Explaining how it works Rando adds: “The user swabs a surface (i.e. food packaging, food manufacturing line, office doors) with a q-tip. The q-tip is inserted into a pocket-sized testing capsule. The capsule is accepted by a SwissDeCode terminal machine (the size of an Espresso machine), which provides the results in less than one hour,” he says. 

The development and validation of the device will be ongoing during the next few months and the partners expect that it will be market-ready by the end of the year. 

By Gaynor Selby