Institute of Food Safety (RIKILT), The Netherlands

RIKILT - Institute of Food Safety is a Dutch independent institute for contract research in the food chain and is a part of Wageningen UR. With its 175 staff, RIKILT focuses on the safety and health of food within a multidisciplinary approach. RIKILT monitors the safety and quality of food in the Netherlands and carries out high-quality research on detection, identification and functionality of substances in food ... more

Research at RIKILT focuses on analysis of food and food products, and the effects of food and dietary components on human health. The institute has advanced analytical technology (NMR, Q-TOF, GC-MS, LC MS, Biacore) as well as genomics tools (DNA microarrayer, quantitative PCR, capillary sequencer, etc). Application includes safety of residues, contaminants and novel foods, and safety and health of bioactive food components.

Of particular relevance to NuGO is the work of the Food Bioactives Group (Dr Jaap Keijer). This groups seeks to understand how long-term exposure to bioactive food components affects our health. The effects are analysed at levels relevant for human intake using cell biological and functional genomic tools. The outcome of their research will allow us to understand how food bioactives work, which in turn will help us to define intakes that give maximum benefit to our health with minimal risk.

The Food Bioactives Group has expertise in performing human and animal intervention studies, and cellular and animal exposure studies used to determine bioavailability, metabolism and effects of food bioactives. The effects are analysed using molecular, cellular and large-scale gene expression assays.

At present, The Food Bioactives Group are involved in a number of EU- and nationally-funded nutrigenomics projects, which are performed in collaboration with different partners across NuGO (TNO, Wageningen University, University of Maastricht, RIVM, DIfE - the German Institute of Human Nutrition, University of the Balearic Islands, The Jagiellonian University Medical College and the University of Oslo).

Governing Council Member: Dr Robert van Gorcom
Partner Coordinator: Dr Jaap Keijer