A north-east academic has been honoured for his innovative work in the field of food safety.
Professor Jörg Feldmann, who heads Aberdeen University’s Trace Element Speciation Laboratory (Tesla), helped develop chemical methods which will detect safe amounts of arsenic in rice and rice-based products.
Tesla had been commissioned by the European Joint Research Centre to come up with a robust method of determining the levels of inorganic arsenic, a potentially poisonous substance, in foods.
The research was launched after the World Health Organisation suggested a maximum permissible level for inorganic arsenic for polished, or white, rice last year.
Prof Feldmann had previously published influential research on the amount and type of arsenic that can be found in rice and rice products, which attracted worldwide media interest.
He said: “This award is a testament to the hard work of everyone at Tesla, who have worked tirelessly to develop a methodology that will help measure safe levels of inorganic arsenic in food which will now be incorporated into European law.”
Aberdeen University academic awarded for food safety research
