The World Mycotoxin Forum 2023 was held from the 9th to the 11th of
October in Antwerp, Belgium. Among this gathering of more than 400 experts and
researchers the PHOTONFOOD project had a strong presence with multiple contributions.
Prof. Rudolf Krska, a prominent figure in the field of mycotoxin
research and part of the project, delivered a keynote speech, as one of the
general conference chairs, raising the question “Is there toxin free food?”. Stephan
Freitag talked about the environmental impact of mycotoxin analysis, highlighting
that routine as well as novel analytical methods should be evaluated regarding
their greenness using available metrics. In addition, he also presented a
poster on the results obtained by the 3D-printed prototype for sample handling.
More details on the PHOTONFOOD HIFI and MIFI prototypes were shown by Polina
Fomina and Antoni Femenias during the poster sessions. The last day of the
conference was kicked-off by Prof. Boris Mizaikoff challenging the audience
with his talk titled “Infrared spectroscopy in food analysis: Hype or hope?” The
lecture provided insights into the photonic developments within the project. Later
that day, Volha Akulava also presented the results of the pioneering research
done within PHOTONFOOD on the presence of contaminants in the aquaponic system.
