Reports

QALIBRA-Heilsuvogin. Fourth Annual Report

Published:

01/12/2010

Authors:

Helga Gunnlaugsdottir, Nynke de Jong, Matthew Atkinson, Heleen van Dijk, Meike Wentholt, Lynn Frewer, Bjorn Thorgilsson, Heida Palmadottir, Andy Hart

Supported by:

EU, Matís

QALIBRA-Heilsuvogin. Fourth Annual Report

This report is the fourth and final annual report of the European project QALIBRA and covers the period 1.04. 2009 to 31.12. 2010. QALIBRA, or “Quality of Life - Integarted Benefit and Risk Analysis. Webbased tool for assessing food safety and health benefits, ”abbreviated QALIBRA (Heilsuvogin in Icelandic), is the name of a European project, which falls under Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety in the 6th EU Research Program. This is a three-year and 9-month project managed by Matís ohf. The project manager for the project as a whole is Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, department manager at Matís. The aim of the QALIBRA project is to develop quantitative methods to assess both the positive and negative effects of food ingredients on human health. These methods have been presented in a computer program that is open and accessible to all stakeholders on the website project http://www.qalibra.eu. The methods developed test two types of food, ie fish and target foods. Participants in the project are from Iceland, the UK, the Netherlands, Greece; Portugal and Hungary.

This is the fourth and last annual report from the “QALIBRA - Quality of life - integrated benefit and risk analysis. Web - based tool for assessing food safety and health benefits ”project funded by the EC's Sixth Framework Program, Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety. It began in April 2006 and ended December 2009. To assess the balance between the risks and benefits associated with a particular food, they must be converted into a common measure of net health impact. Uncertainties affecting the risks and benefits cause uncertainty about the magnitude and even the direction of the net health impact. QALIBRA has developed methods that can take into account multiple risks, benefits and uncertainties and implemented them in a web ‐ based software for assessing and communicating net health impacts. The methods and software developed by QALIBRA were used to carry out detailed case studies on the benefits and risks of oily fish and functional foods. The software developed in the project to assess and integrate beneficial and adverse effects of foods is available at the website of the project http://www.qalibra.eu. Participants in the project: Matís, Iceland, coordinator, The Food and Environment Research Agency United Kingdom, National Institute of Public Health and The Environment, The Netherlands, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, University of Patras, Greece, Altagra Business Service.

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Reports

QALIBRA Final activity report / Final Report QALIBRA

Published:

01/12/2010

Authors:

Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, Andy Hart, Anna Kristín Daníelsdottir

Supported by:

EU, Matís

QALIBRA Final activity report / Final Report QALIBRA

This report is the final report of the European project QALIBRA or “Quality of Life - Integrated Benefit and Risk Analysis. Webbased tool for assessing food safety and health benefits ”or QALIBRA - Heilsuvogin in Icelandic. Matís ohf managed the project, which was partly funded by the European Union, with a total of seven participants from six countries. The project began on April 1, 2006 and formally ended on December 31, 2009, but the final completion lasted until 2010. This report describes the main results, benefits and results of the project. The aim of the QALIBRA project was to develop quantitative methods to assess both the positive and negative effects of food ingredients on human health. When we eat food, we get both negative and positive elements in the body and until now, food risk assessment has been limited to examining the effects of individual substances on living beings (eg experimental animals). The QALIBRA project developed methods that take into account both the negative and positive aspects of food consumption and evaluate the overall impact of the risks and benefits on human health as well as the uncertainty of the assessment. These methods have been presented in a computer program that is open and accessible to all stakeholders free of charge on the project's website http://www.qalibra.eu. The methods were tested on two types of food, ie fish and target foods.

This is the final report to the commission from the “QALIBRA - Quality of life - integrated benefit and risk analysis. Web - based tool for assessing food safety and health benefits ”project. QALIBRA was an EU 6th Framework project with seven partners, conducted between 1st April 2006 and 31st December 2009, although the finalization of project was accomplished in year 2010. In this report the objectives, main work performed and achievements of the project to the state‐ of ‐ the ‐ art are summarized. To assess the balance between the risks and benefits associated with a particular food, they must be converted into a common measure of net health impact. Uncertainties affecting the risks and benefits cause uncertainty about the magnitude and even the direction of the net health impact. QALIBRA has developed methods that can take into account multiple risks, benefits and uncertainties and implemented them in a web ‐ based software for assessing and communicating net health impacts. The methods and software developed by QALIBRA were used to carry out detailed case studies on the benefits and risks of oily fish and functional foods. The software developed (QALIBRA tool) in the project to assess and integrate beneficial and adverse effects of foods is freely available on the website of the project http://www.qalibra.eu.

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Reports

QALIBRA Final report from the cluster activities

Published:

01/12/2009

Authors:

Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, Björn Þorgilsson

Supported by:

European Commission, Matís, FERA, RIVM, WU, Upatras, Altagra, INRB IP / IPIMAR

QALIBRA Final report from the cluster activities

This project report describes a joint meeting of two European projects called QALIBRA and BENERIS. The meeting was held in Budapest, Hungary, on 10 and 11 June 2009. Both projects fall under Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety in the 6th EU Research Program and share some work components.

The purpose of the meeting was:

1) Presentation of the main results of both projects

2) Work on improvements to the joint presentation plan of the projects

3) Comments and proposals of the reference advisory committee of the projects on the work and the continuation

QALIBRA, or “Quality of Life - Integarted Benefit and Risk Analysis. Web-based tool for assessing food safety and health benefits, ”abbreviated QALIBRA (Heilsuvogin in Icelandic), is a three-and-a-half-year project led by Matís. The project manager is Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, department manager at Matís. The aim of the QALIBRA project is to develop quantitative methods to assess both the positive and negative effects of food ingredients on human health. The goal is to present these methods in a computer program that will be open and accessible to all stakeholders on the World Wide Web. The aim of the BENERIS project is to create a methodology for dealing with complex benefit-risk situations, and then use them to assess the benefits / risks that certain types of food can bring. The first type of food that will be used in the development of this methodology is seafood. This report describes the discussions and the main conclusions of the meeting.

This report is a summary of the 3rd and final Cluster meeting of the QALIBRA and the BENERIS projects in Budapest, Hungary, June 10-11th, 2009. Both projects are funded by the EC´s 6th framework program, and have the same contract start dates and a common workpackage (WP6) for cluster activities. The projects started on April 1st 2006 and the cluster activities will run until October 2009, or for 42 months. This report contains results of the discussions that took place and the actions defined, while the overheads presented during the meeting are compiled in an Annex to the report. The overall objectives of QALIBRA are to develop a suite of quantitative methods for assessing and integrating beneficial and adverse effects of foods, and make them available to stakeholders as web-based software for assessing and communicating net health impacts. The methods and tools developed by QALIBRA will be tested in two case studies on oily fish and functional food. The overall objective of BENERIS is to create a framework for handling complicated benefit-risk situations, and apply it for analysis of the benefits and risks of certain foods. The first food commodity to be used in the development of the methodology is fish.

The objectives of the Cluster meeting were:

1) Dissemination and sharing of information of the main findings of the different parts of both projects

2) Refining the joint dissemination plan

3) Obtain feedback and advice from the Qalibra / Beneris Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP)

This report contains results of the discussions that took place and the actions defined.

Report closed until 01.01.2012

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Reports

QALIBRA Dissemination material for first end-user workshop

Published:

01/12/2009

Authors:

Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, Jeljer Hoekstra, Marco Zeilmaker, Nynke de Jong, Bas Bokkers, Helen Owen, Andy Hart, Lynn Frewer, Nikos Avouris

Supported by:

European Commission Matís, FERA, RIVM, WU, Upatras, Altagra, INRB IP / IPIMAR

QALIBRA Dissemination material for first end-user workshop

This project report contains promotional materials and teaching materials used in the first stakeholder seminar to present the results and programs developed in the European QALIBRA project. During this course, participants were introduced to and taught a program developed in QALIBRA to assess the risks and benefits of food consumption, as well as the opportunity to try out the program themselves. The course was held on 9-10 September 2009 in Budapest, Hungary. Matís organized and directed the course and also participated in presentations and teaching together with other participants (partners) in the European project QALIBRA There were 31 participants in the course and they came from various stakeholders, including food regulators, health sector, food companies and universities across Europe. Participants submitted an evaluation of the course after that and were generally very pleased with how successful it was and considered the QALIBRA program to assess the risks and benefits of food consumption to offer great potential, as well as pointing out ways to improve it, but aiming for it that the program will be accessible to stakeholders on the World Wide Web when the project is completed.

This report contains the dissemination materials that were used at the first enduser workshop of the QALIBRA project, 9-10 September 2009. These materials are also intended for use in further training activities which may be organized after the end of the Qalibra project. The overall objectives of QALIBRA are to develop a suite of quantitative methods for assessing and integrating beneficial and adverse effects of foods, and make them available to stakeholders as web-based software for assessing and communicating net health impacts. Dissemination of, information about complex systems, such as the integrated assessment methodologies being developed in the Qalibra project, to end-users and stakeholders can be difficult. Similarly, knowledge transfer to potential endusers also represents a challenge. In QALIBRA, end-user uptake is promoted by a systematic program of dissemination activities adapted to the needs of all stakeholders, and by the development of targeted, tested materials and programs that allow use of the system by technical end-users during and after completion of the Qalibra project. To promote end-user uptake of the web-based software developed in QALIBRA, a workshop format is used. This report contains the material used at the first end-user workshop, which was carried out with project partners and 31 prospective end-users from food authorities, food companies and academia from 12 different Member States and 3 Associated States. A post-workshop feedback survey showed a very positive response by the participants, and was also useful in identifying areas for further improvement of the Qalibra tool in the final months of the project.

Report closed until 01.01.2012

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Reports

QALIBRA-Heilsuvogin. Third Annual Report

Published:

01/10/2009

Authors:

Helga Gunnlaugsdottir, Nynke de Jong, Matthew Atkinson, Heleen van Dijk, Meike Wentholt, Lynn Frewer, Bjorn Thorgilsson, Heida Palmadottir, Andy Hart

Supported by:

ESB

QALIBRA-Heilsuvogin. Third Annual Report

This report is the third annual report of the European project QALIBRA and covers the period 1.04.2008 to 31.03.2009. QALIBRA, or “Quality of Life - Integarted Benefit and Risk Analysis. Webbased tool for assessing food safety and health benefits, ”abbreviated QALIBRA (Heilsuvogin in Icelandic), is the name of a European project, which falls under Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety in the 6th EU Research Program. This is a three-and-a-half-year project managed by the Fisheries Research Institute (now Matís ohf). The project manager is Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, department manager at Matís. The aim of the QALIBRA project is to develop quantitative methods to assess both the positive and negative effects of food ingredients on human health. These methods will be presented in a computer program that will be open and accessible to all stakeholders on the World Wide Web. Participants in the project are from Iceland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal and Hungary.

“QALIBRA - Quality of life - integrated benefit and risk analysis. Web - based tool for assessing food safety and health benefits ”is a project funded by the EC's Sixth Framework Program, Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety. It started in April 2006 and will end in 2009. To assess the balance between the risks and benefits associated with a particular food, they must be converted into a common measure of net health impact. Uncertainties affecting the risks and benefits cause uncertainty about the magnitude and even the direction of the net health impact. QALIBRA will develop methods that can take into account multiple risks, benefits and uncertainties and implement them in webbased software for assessing and communicating net health impacts. The objectives of QALIBRA are to develop a suite of quantitative methods for assessing and integrating beneficial and adverse effects of foods, and make them available to all stakeholders as web-based software for assessing and communicating net health impacts. The participants in the project are: Matís, Iceland, coordinator, Central Science Laboratory, United Kingdom, National Institute of Public Health and The Environment, The Netherlands, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, University of Patras, Greece, Altagra Business Service, Hungary, National Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries Research, Portugal.

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Reports

QALIBRA-Heilsuvogin. Second Annual Report

Published:

01/06/2008

Authors:

Helga Gunnlaugsdottir, Nynke de Jong, Matthew Atkinson, Heleen van Dijk, Meike Wentholt, Lynn Frewer, Bjorn Thorgilsson, Heida Palmadottir, Andy Hart

Supported by:

ESB

QALIBRA-Heilsuvogin. Second Annual Report

This report is the second annual report of the European project QALIBRA and covers the period 1.04. 2007 to 31.03. 2008. QALIBRA, or “Quality of Life - Integarted Benefit and Risk Analysis. Webbased tool for assessing food safety and health benefits, ”abbreviated QALIBRA (Heilsuvogin in Icelandic), is the name of a European project, which falls under Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety in the 6th EU Research Program. This is a three-and-a-half-year project managed by the Fisheries Research Institute (now Matís ohf). The project manager is Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, department manager at Matís. The aim of the QALIBRA project is to develop quantitative methods to assess both the positive and negative effects of food ingredients on human health. These methods will be presented in a computer program that will be open and accessible to all stakeholders on the World Wide Web.

Participants in the project are from Iceland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal and Hungary.

“QALIBRA - Quality of life - integrated benefit and risk analysis. Web - based tool for assessing food safety and health benefits ”is a project funded by the EC's Sixth Framework Program, Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety. It began in April 2006 and will end in 2009. To assess the balance between the risks and benefits associated with a particular food, they must be converted into a common measure of net health impact. Uncertainties affecting the risks and benefits cause uncertainty about the magnitude and even the direction of the net health impact. QALIBRA will develop methods that can take into account multiple risks, benefits and uncertainties and implement them in web-based software for assessing and communicating net health impacts. The objectives of QALIBRA are to develop a suite of quantitative methods for assessing and integrating beneficial and adverse effects of foods and make them available to all stakeholders as web-based software for assessing and communicating net health impacts.

The participants in the project are:

Matís, Iceland, coordinator, Central Science Laboratory, United Kingdom, National Institute of Public Health and The Environment, The Netherlands, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, University of Patras, Greece, Altagra Business Service, Hungary, National Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries Research , Portugal.

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Reports

QALIBRA-Heilsuvogin. First Annual Report

Published:

01/06/2007

Authors:

Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, Nynke de Jong, Matthew Atkinson, Lynn Frewer, Bjorn Þorgilsson, Heiða Pálmadóttir, Andy Hart

Supported by:

European Union (EU), Matis, CSL, RIVM, WU, UPATRAS, Altagra, IPIMAR

QALIBRA-Heilsuvogin. First Annual Report

This report is the first annual report of the European project QALIBRA and covers the period from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007. QALIBRA, or “Quality of Life - Integrated Benefit and Risk Analysis. Webbased tool for assessing food safety and health benefits, ”abbreviated QALIBRA (Heilsuvogin in Icelandic), is the name of a European project, which falls under Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety in the 6th EU Research Program. This is a three-and-a-half-year project managed by the Fisheries Research Institute (now Matís ohf). The project manager is Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, department manager at Matís. The aim of the QALIBRA project is to develop quantitative methods to assess both the positive and negative effects of food ingredients on human health. The aim is for these methods to be presented in a computer program that will be open and accessible to all stakeholders on the World Wide Web. Participants in the project are from Iceland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal and Hungary.

This is the first periodic activity and management report for the project QALIBRA - “Quality of life - integrated benefit and risk analysis. Web - based tool for assessing food safety and health benefits ”. The report covers the period from 01.04.06 to 31.03.07. QALIBRA is partly funded by the EC's Sixth Framework Program, Priority 5, Food Quality & Safety. It began in April 2006 and will end in 2009. The objectives of QALIBRA are to develop a suite of quantitative methods for assessing and integrating beneficial and adverse effects of foods and make them available to all stakeholders as web-based software for assessing and communicating net health impacts. The participants in the project are: Matís, Iceland, coordinator, Central Science Laboratory, United Kingdom, National Institute of Public Health and The Environment, The Netherlands, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, University of Patras, Greece, Altagra Business Service, Hungary, National Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries Research, Portugal.

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