These past five years, the protozoan parasites have received increasing attention from risk assessment and management authorities at international, European and French levels. It is recognized that: i) data on the food transmission of protozoan parasites are lacking; ii) it is essential to acquire more knowledge in order to define control strategies.

The UMT Protorisk 2020, entitled “Characterization and control of food contamination by the protozoan parasites Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia duodenalis and Toxoplasma gondii” is a continuation of the previous UMT and of scientific advances and techniques obtained. Its aim is to produce new data which will contribute to a better appreciation of the risk linked to these hazards in food.

This UMT, located in Rouen, has started in January 2020 for 5 years.

Axis 1: determination of the infective nature of parasites
Propose suitable and reliable methods to improve risk assessment.
Develop fundamental knowledge on inactivation mechanisms to propose new analysis and/or control tools.

Axis 2: study of food contamination routes
Characterize the transfer and survival of parasites from the contamination sources to the food, according to production practices, in order to better understand food transmission.

Axis 3: evaluation of control measures downstream from production
Research surrogates of parasites to validate the efficacy of control measures.
Characterize the impact of industrial processes and consumer practices to propose suitable downstream control strategies.