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MAC-Oils focuses on the individual and comparative assessment of safety, quality, environmental impact and aspects of eight different oils, consumed in Europe, and their respective production and manufacturing methods.
The project will be structured in two different phases: the first phase is aimed at the creation of a permanent partnership among researchers from European and Extra-European Countries that will be set up through eight thematic ateliers (on olive, argan, soya-bean, corn, sunflower, peanut, rapeseed and rice oils), regarding the following five topics: assessment of chemical and physical-chemical properties of oils; assessment of organoleptic properties of oils and their acceptability by the European consumer; assessment of extraction, conservation and packaging methods of oils; assessment of risks/benefits of the consumption of oils on European consumer's health; oil seeds cultivation: problems and perspectives.
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It will be assured the SMEs participation in every atelier: their contribution will consist in highlighting possible critical and problematic aspects linked to extraction, production, conservation, packaging and marketing of their oils, providing useful hints to researchers in order to elaborate future common projects.
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The results of the work on each target-oil will be elaborated, with the final purpose of realizing three Handbooks, that will gather the existing know-how, at European and extra-european level, about these products. The second phase will be dedicated to the preparation and realization of a final International Conference, during which these Handbooks will be distributed. In this phase it is also foreseen the creation of informative and disseminating products and the building of the project web-site.
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The partnership is composed by Research Institutes, Universities, SMEs, SMEs Associations and Technological Parks from Italy, Cyprus, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Argentina and Brazil.
<P>For more information about this project, please visit the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/biosociety/food_quality/projects/178_en.ht…; target="_blank">European Commission Food Quality and Safety in Europe</a> Web site.