The Institute for Health & Consumer Protection (IHCP) is one of the seven scientific institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission.
It is located in Ispra, Northern Italy and focuses on several generic problems in food and feed safety and traceability.
Among them, agro-biotech products, chemicals assessment, nano-biotechnology, environmental exposure, food contact materials, authentication of consumer food products are the main fields of activity.
The Unit of Molecular Biology and Genomics (MBG) focuses on the DNA sequences of genetically modified crops (GMOs) and the methods derived thereof to detect, identify and quantify GMOs to comply with the EU regulations.
This work is coordinated at the European level in the ENGL network.
The MBG hosts the Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) for the validation of GMO detection methods and for their use for enforcement in coordination with National Reference Laboratories.
The EMBnet specialized node focuses on the "Central Core Sequence Information system" (CCSIS) that collects the said sequences (primers, genomic or plasmids inserts, plasmids of reference) under international annotation rules.
In 2009, a special library of sequences should be made public for stakeholders. (Last update 4-SEP-2009)
