Technical University of Denmark (DTU) (www.dtu.dk) is one of the biggest technical universities in Northern Europe. In 2017, DTU was ranked as No. 1 in Scandinavia and No. 14 in Europe and No. 65 in the world at Reuter’s list of top 100 most innovative Universities in the world. DTU has more than 11.000 students with 25 international MSc programs, and 400 new PhD students yearly. DTU consists of 20 departments/institutes, 7 research centers and 6 companies with a total of 6000 staffs.
The National Food Institute (DTU Food) (www. food.dtu.dk) is a specialist institute comprising both research and advisory personnel. With a unique interdisciplinary structure, DTU Food is a bastion for research and communication of sustainable and healthy foods, consumer products and the environment, providing advice and solutions to both industry and society (policy makers). Disciplines cover toxicology, epidemiology, chemistry, nutrition, microbiology and state-of-the-art technology developments. The institute has a mission of preventing disease and promote health. The institute has provided advice and research results to Danish governmental institutions for more than half a century, and continues to be a major service provider for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration. Through this work, the institute has built strong competences in translating research into policy.
The Research Group of Food Allergy is focused on determining which properties of food proteins contribute to allergy development, and which contribute to tolerance development, as well as the underlying mechanisms. The research therefore analyses the relationship between different protein-chemical characteristics and the allergy- or tolerance-inducing capacity of the protein, and the relationship between the allergenic capacity of food proteins and the way we are exposed to them. The group’s research forms the basis for advising authorities and organizations in close cooperation with several international collaborators. As a part of the institute’s advisory work for the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, the group also takes active part in international work to improve risk assessment tools and to define acceptable threshold levels for food allergens.
ROLE IN PROJECT
The participation of DTU is the future creation of a standard from SaPher Guidelines, positioning Europe in the frontline in food allergen regulations. The elaboration of the Best Practice Guidelines (WP2) suggesting where and how many food allergen tests should be realized in a food production plant, will be disseminated and communicated through official media to reach the ISO. In addition, we will disseminate these guidelines to the different European Certification Entities (e.g. AENOR, BUREAU VERITAS, SGS, APPLUS, TÜV), promoting through their professional consulting and certification services the widespread implementation of our guidelines in the food producing industries.