NAFTEC annual report 2017

NTU Food Technology Centre
(NAFTEC)
ANNUAL
REPORT
2017
NAFTEC is a college-level centre under the College of Engineering,
administratively linked to School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering.

Acknowledgements
NAFTEC Annual Report 2017 was prepared by NAFTEC staff and students, with special
thanks to Dr Natasha Yang, Ms Kelyn Seow Lee Ghee and Ms Jean Teh Pui Yi. NAFTEC
would also like to extend its gratitude to Dr Sharon Longford (SCELSE) for her assistance.

TABLE OF
CONTENTS
(i) Abbreviations ...................................................... 2
1. INTRODUCTION...................................................3
1. Vision and Mission ...................................................... 3
2. Leadership .......................................................... 3
3. Scientific Advisory Committee .......................... 4
4. Staff and students ............................................. 4
2. RESEARCH FRAMEWORK ................................ 5
1. Key research pillars and collaborators ............. 5
2. Food safety: Screening foodborne bacteria
and antimicrobial resistance in a One
Health framework ............................................. 6
3. Rapid bio-sensor foodborne pathogen
detection .......................................................... 9
4. Integrated sustainability and risk assessment
of agri- and aquaculture ................................ 10
5. Food technology and gut microbiome:
Functional foods targeting a healthy
gut microbiome ............................................. 11
3. OTHER ENGAGEMENTS .................................. 12
1. iFood Initiative ................................................12
2. Global Microbial Identifier Initiative ................ 13
4. HOSTED EVENTS ............................................. 14
1. International Food Safety Authorities Network
(INFOSAN) meeting ........................................ 14
2. iFood 2017 conference ................................... 16
3. Food Risk Analysis Seminar .......................... 17
4. Next generation sequencing training
workshop ........................................................ 17
5. ACHIEVEMENTS ............................................... 18
1. Research funding – awarded grants ...............18
2. Publications ......................................................18
3. Courses .......................................................... 21
4. Hosted events ............................................... 21
5. Keynote presentations ................................... 22
6. News articles .................................................. 23
7. Interviews ....................................................... 23
6. FUTURE OUTLOOK ......................................... 24
ANNEXES ............................................................... 26
I. INFOSAN 2016: New science for food safety:
supporting food chain transparency for improved
health ....................................................................... 26
II. IFOOD 2017: Food for the future: quality, safety and
sustainability ............................................................ 27
III. GMI letter to all Ministries of Health and Agriculture
in 183 countries ....................................................... 28

2
NAFTEC
A*STAR Ministry of Health, Agency for Science Technology and Research
AMR Antimicrobial Resistance
APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
AMR Antimicrobial resistance
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
AVA Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid
DTU Technical University of Denmark
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FBD Foodborne Diseases
FDA Food Drug and Administration
FERG WHO Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group
GC-MS Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry
GMI Global Microbial Identifier
IBD Inflammatory Bowel Disease
iFood NTU’s Food Science and Technology Initiative
INFOSAN International Food Safety Authorities Network
MOH Ministry of Health
NAFTEC Nanyang Technological University Food Technology Centre
NEA National Environment Agency
NGS Next Generation Sequencing
NUS National University of Singapore
NTU Nanyang Technological University
QSA Quantitative Sustainability Assessment
SCELSE Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering
SCUT South China University of Technology
SSIJRI Sino-Singapore International Joint Research Institute
USA United States of America
WGS Whole Genome Sequencing
WHO World Health Organization
Abbreviations

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Annual Report 2017
1. Introduction
This report marks the first Nanyang Technological University Food Technology Centre (NAFTEC)
annual report, covering the period from inception, in October 2016 till December 2017. It is the intention
to prepare annual reports with a content that portrays activities, but also visions of the NAFTEC
community as well as the links to other food related activities at Nanyang Technological University
(NTU).
1.1 Vision and Mission
1.2 Leadership: Director and Deputy-Director
The first NAFTEC initiatives saw the light of day
in the beginning of 2016, and the status as Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Centre
for Sustainable Development in Agriculture &
Fishery Sectors, was bestowed upon the Centre
in July 2016. The official opening of the Centre
and the decision concerning organisational setting
took place in October 2016, in time for the first
major international NAFTEC hosted event: the
international meeting on “New Science for Food
Safety: supporting food chain transparency for
improved health”. This meeting was planned and
co-hosted with the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO) International Food
Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN).
Vision
A world where the entire food production
chain is driven by science-based solutions
to attain continuously higher levels of safety
and efficiency for a healthier population, and
sustainable economic development.
Mission
To advance science and technology
for more efficient and sustainable food
production systems for improving health
and quality of life.
Professor Joergen Schlundt
Director of NAFTEC
Professor Mary Chan Park
Deputy Director of NAFTEC

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NAFTEC
1.3 Scientific Advisory Committee
In April 2017, the Scientific Advisory Committee was officially formed to provide strategic
direction in the key pillars of research. The members of the committee include:
1.4 Staff and students
NAFTEC has grown steadily over the period
of 2016-2017. By December 2017, the centre
consisted of faculty members NAFTEC
Director, Professor Joergen Schlundt, Deputy
Director, Professor Mary Chan Park, and
part time Visiting Professor, Patricia Conway
from the University of New South Wales,
Australia. The remaining staff are comprised
of Research Fellows, Project Officers and
Research Assistants. NAFTEC’s total 12.5
headcount has been actively involved in
research, the organisation of numerous local
and internationally collaborative meetings and
trainingworkshops,aswellasthemanagement
of 15 postgraduate and undergraduate
students in research, and over 100 students
enrolled in the CH9220 Food Standards in
Production and Trade undergraduate course.
The centre has also hosted visiting scholars
from the Technical University of Denmark
and Xiamen Products Quality Supervision &
Inspection Institute in China. It is anticipated
that additional full time core faculty staff will be
employed in the near future.
Frank AARESTRUP
Chair, NAFTEC Scientific Advisory Committee
Professor, Head of Research Group, National Food Institute,
Technical University of Denmark
Margaret MORRIS
Professor, Head Department of Pharmacology,
University of New South Wales
Ruiwen LIN
Executive Director,
Sheng Siong Group Ltd
Remko BOOM
Professor, Food
Process Engineering
Sciences,
Wageningen
University
The NAFTEC team

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Annual Report 2017
2. The research framework
Key Reseach
Pillars
Local Collaborators International Collaborators
Food safety:
screening
foodborne
bacteria
and AMR in
one health
framework
• National University of Singapore
(NUS) YLL School of Med.
• Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and
Singapore General Hospital (SGH)/
Duke-NUS
• Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP)
• Environmental Health Institute
(EHI)/National Environment Agency
(NEA)
• Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority
of Singapore (AVA)
• Singapore Centre for Environmental
Life Sciences Engineering
(SCELSE)
• Technical University of Denmark
(DTU), National Food Institute (DTU
Food)
• Wageningen University (NL)
• WHO Coll. Centre for AMR in
Foodborne Pathogens (DK)
• Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO)
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• US Food and Drug Administration
(USFDA) and US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (US
CDC)
• International Food Safety Authorities
Network (INFOSAN)
• Michigan State University (MSU)
• Universities/Agencies in Vietnam,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri
Lanka
• Xiamen Products Quality Supervision
& Inspection Institute, China
Integrated
sustainability
and risk
assessment
of agriculture
and
aquaculture
• School of Chemical and Biomedical
Engineering (NTU)
• APEC Collaborating Centre for
Sustainable Development in
Agriculture & Fishery Sectors
• University of New South Wales
(UNSW)
• National Food Institute, Technical
University of Denmark (DTU)
• Netherlands Consortium
• University of Michigan School of
Public Health
Food
technology
and gut
microbiome:
functional
foods
targeting a
healthy gut
microbiome
• Singapore Centre for Environmental
Life Sciences Engineering
(SCELSE)
• Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
(LKC/NTU)
• School of Social Sciences (SSS/
NTU)
• National Institute of Education (NIE)
• Nanyang Institute of Technology in
Health & Medicine (NITHM/NTU)
• School of Physical and Mathematical
Sciences (SPMS/NTU)
• Ageing Research Institute for
Society and Education (ARISE/NTU)
• University of New South Wales
(UNSW)
Rapid bio-
sensor
foodborne
pathogen
detection
• Centre for Biomimetic Sensor
Science (CBSS, NTU)
• School of Material Science and
Engineering (MSE, NTU)
• School of Physical and
Mathematical Sciences (SPMS/
NTU)
• Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority
of Singapore (AVA)
• Temasek Polytechnic
• US Food and Drug Administration
(USFDA)
• Sealed Air Food Care
• Unilever

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NAFTEC
2.1 Food safety: Screening foodborne bacteria and antimicrobial resistance
in a One Health framework
Background
Many, if not most of all important microbiological
risks in food, relate in some way to animals in the
food production chain. Therefore, food should be
seen as an important vehicle for diseases passing
from animals to humans. In some countries, new
systems for surveillance of food-borne zoonotic
microorganisms is now coordinated across the
food production chain, thus enabling a clearer
understanding and management of foodborne risks.
There are several examples of such surveillance
systems in the Netherlands and Denmark1
.
A closely related emerging risk is the possible
presence of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria
in food production chains. This is evidenced by the
increasing number of regulatory and science-based
policy initiatives that have been launched at national
(including Singapore) and regional levels worldwide
forcontrollingAMR2
.Inadditiontopoliciesconcerning
responsible use of antimicrobials in humans,
policies regarding prudent use in the animal sector
to prevent the spread of AMR bacteria to human
via food are also implemented. It is commonly
acknowledged that the documentation of this risk,
as well as of the efficiency of policy interventions,
can only be assessed through surveillance of AMR
in the human, animal and environmental sectors, in
effect by applying the One Health paradigm. Such
surveillance systems have been initiated in a number
of countries including the United States of America
and Denmark3
.
Surveillance data gathered from One Health
sectors - namely animal, environment, food and
human - is thus increasingly used to document
developments, but more importantly, also to form
the basis for preventive action. Such action has
related specifically to lower the prevalence of
zoonotic pathogens (and AMR) in animals and the
food production chain, or in a more generic sense
in providing the scientific basis for agricultural policy
change.
Next generation DNA sequencing (NGS)/whole
genome sequencing (WGS) presents us with a
generic revolution in microbiological identification,
characterisation and epidemiology in the One
Health context. The inevitable (paradigm) shift is
already happening and comes at a time where the
importance to link comparable data between animal,
environmental, food and health sectors is becoming
obvious. Through WGS of bacterial isolates, both
pathogen identification and characterisation and
AMR information can be directly and rapidly obtained
from the sequence data, at the level of precision
that was not previously possible. Unlike traditional
identification and characterisation methods, WGS
is not organism-specific and thus, allowing multiple
pathogens to be sequenced simultaneously, enables
simpler, faster and cheaper laboratory operations. In
addition, WGS offers the ease of standardisation and
harmonisation of operating protocols for WGS data
collection, assessment of sequencing data quality,
data processing and interpretation. The data from
WGS provides a common standardised language
that can be deposited to online international
public data repositories for global data sharing
and comparison, as well as global surveillance of
foodborne pathogens and AMR. The capacity to
share and analyse large bodies of data over the
internet means that the world is presently at the
verge of moving into real-time sharing of not only
data but also algorithms for rapid analysis. National
agriculture, food and health regulators in North
America and Europe are now moving rapidly in this
direction - using NGS to produce whole genome
sequences for relevant microorganisms4
. Due to
the dramatic change in epidemiological capacity
derived from the future use of NGS/WGS and other
new developments, it will enable future decision-
support systems to have better and more effective
food safety management programs. These will
be based on the concept that risks (as well as
benefits and sustainability) of food production will
be assessed throughout the food chain, combining
data from environment, primary production, food
safety monitoring and disease surveillance. Thus,
future food microbiology will be based on molecular
and DNA-sequence based subtyping, enabling
a novel understanding of beneficial as well as
dangerous microorganisms, and of near real-time
attribution of foodborne disease to specific food
groups. WGS can be used widely in several areas
to improve food safety management, which include
foodborne disease surveillance, food inspection
(testing) and monitoring, outbreak detection and
investigation, food technology improvement and

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Annual Report 2017
evaluating the effectiveness of food
safety intervention. Owning to its
rapidly declining cost, application of
WGS in food safety management
could lead to greater consumer
protection, trade facilitation, food/
nutrition security, health care and
tourism. In order to benefit from the
full advantage of WGS in improving
food safety management, it still relies
on the interpretation of analysed
data in the context of appropriate
food consumption history and
epidemiological data. In addition,
WGS is more effective if it is used in a
One Health context where WGS data
of isolates/samples from multiple
sectors that involve human, animal
and environmental health are shared and compared
locally, nationally and globally.
Project
As a starting point to generate relevant data
for foodborne pathogens and AMR surveillance,
NAFTEC has initiated several projects to collaborate
with various national, regional and international
partners around the world to investigate the level
and type of resistance genes that are present in two
bacterial species – 1) Escherichia coli (E. coli) and 2)
Salmonella enterica serotypes (eg. Salmonella ser.
Enteritidis) which were isolated from food-producing
animal, environment, food or human. The rationale
for the selection of bacterial species are: 1) E. coli
is a widespread commensal in the gut of vertebrates
and thus, part of the microflora of several food types
and in many cases used as indicator bacteria for
foodborne pathogens, while certain serotypes of
E. coli, for example, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli
(STEC), are pathogens in their own right and 2)
Salmonella enterica serotypes are common zoonotic
bacteria that can be transmitted between animals
and humans and can cause illness in humans that
ranges from mild to life threatening.
NAFTEC has initiated seven AMR related
research projects that are undertaken by one Post
Doc and three PhD students, in collaboration with
Environmental Health Institute (EHI), a public health
laboratory at the National Environment Agency
(NEA), the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of
Singapore, The Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations, Saw Swee Hock School of
Public Health, Singapore General Hospital,
Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences
Engineering (SCELSE), Tan Tock Seng Hospital,
and WHO Collaborating Centre for Antimicrobial
Resistance in Foodborne Pathogens and Genomics
at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) Food.
1. http://www.rivm.nl/en/Documents_and_publications/
Scientific/Reports/2014/december/Zoonotic_Diseases_
Report_2013 http://www.food.dtu.dk/english/
Publications/Food-safety/Zoonosis---annual-reports
2. Exploring the evidence base for national and regional
policy interventions to combat resistance. Lancet 2016
Jan 16; 387; 285-95 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-
6736(15)00520-6
3. USA: NARMS: National Antimicrobial Resistance
Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria, http://www.cdc.
gov/narms/index.html ; Denmark: DANMAP: Danish
Integrated Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring and
Research Programme, http://www.danmap.org/
4. Aarestrup et al. Integrating genome-based informatics
to modernise global disease monitoring, information
sharing, and response. Emerging Infectious Diseases
Vol. 18, Nr. 11, 2012

8
NAFTEC
Research approach
NAFTEC extracts high-quality bacterial DNAs from
bacteria that are isolated by NAFTEC from the food
chain or are sent to NAFTEC from collaborators for
WGS (below). WGS is done within NTU, by SCELSE.
Various publicly available online bioinformatics tools,
such as the ones (http://www.genomicepidemiology.
org/) that are created by our collaborator, DTU Food,
are used for analysing the sequence data.
Phylogenomic
analysis
Genome
assembly &
annotation
Library
construction
&
sequencing
Reporting /
publication
Bacterial strain
selection
Bacterial strain
selection
Culture
growth
& DNA
extraction
Workflow for
bacterial whole
genome sequencing
Objectives
Objective 1: Monitor national and regional risk
to emerging pathogens and AMR
Since Singapore imports more than 90% of its food
supply, it is vulnerable to “imported” microbiological
and AMR risks that affect food safety and food
security. NGS can provide the capacity for precise
pathogen identification and AMR detection in food
and animals. Also, the NGS data that are gathered
over time could allow ongoing monitoring of possible
national and regional risk to emerging pathogens
and AMR. This involves including publicly available
sequences from shared public accessed databases
(e.g. NCBI) in our phylogenetic analysis.
Objective 2: Improve food safety through a lab-
based One Health approach
Through the use of NGS as a surveillance tool in
food animal, food, environment and human health
sectors, collaboration between the sectors can be
facilitated enabling a better understanding of the
transmission of foodborne pathogens from food to
humans. In addition, the identity (i.e. at subspecies
and clonal level) and virulence (i.e. presence of
virulence or AMR genes) of pathogens can also be
determined by NGS. Such information can establish
the cause of infection and help estimate efficiency of
policy interventions.
Objective 3: Generate a platform to share
experience and expertise
The collaboration enables protocols, NGS
capability, bacterial whole genome sequences,
bioinformatics analysis methodology and data to be
shared between collaborators and NAFTEC.
Outcome
The analysed data would provide information on
the level and type of AMR genes that are present in
the population and together with the information on
the source of isolates (e.g. food-producing animal
or food), thus it assists NAFTEC & collaborators
to identify areas/sectors where particular types
of AMR are prevalent and of concern, and further
investigation needs can then be identified. Upon
completion of the study, NAFTEC and collaborators
could work together to document the process as well
as the outcome in a formal report and one or several
scientific peer-reviewed papers could be published.
The data and the outcome analysis will also be used
to develop a case study so that it can demonstrate
the use of WGS in the context of One Health in food
safety and public health management.

9
Annual Report 2017
2.2 Rapid bio-sensor foodborne pathogen detection
Background
Foodborne pathogens have become a global health
concern due to increasingly prominent occurrence of
foodborne outbreaks, food contamination events and
food scandals, including food fraud. The immediate
outcomes of these events include fatalities, disease
prevalence but also economic loss. According to
the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), nearly 48 million Americans get sick,
128,000 hospitalised and 3,000 die each year from
foodborne pathogens, mainly of bacterial and viral
origin5
. As identified by the CDC, the preponderance
of foodborne illnesses, hospitalisation and death
can be ascribed to eight known pathogens, namely
Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter,
Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli (vero-cytotoxic),
Listeria monocytogenes, Norovirus and Toxoplasma
gondii.
Objectives
In order to combat
foodborne infections,
in addition to improving
hygienic practices as well
as specific mitigations
at primary production,
advances in facile and
accurate pathogen testing
for early detection is of
paramount importance.
The conventional culture-
based pathogen testing methods are plagued with
issues such as time- and labor-consuming protocol
and often lack sensitivity. Some commonly used
methods, even today, still take as long as 6 to 10
days, which present a major problem for consumers
as well as food industries. Thus, the development of
fast and efficient sensors is urgently needed.
Research approach and outcomes
We seek to develop a novel biosensing platform-
utilising unique functionalised magnetic particles
for monitoring of pathogens and toxins, tailored for
the food industries. The research aims to overcome
existing limitations associated with current methods
(namely, labor-intensive, time-consuming and high
cost) in producing a product that meets the industry
standards for a food safety monitoring device. As a
proof-of-concept, the proposed platform is now being
applied for monitoring of a significant foodborne
pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes.
Ourcurrentresultshavedemonstratedthefeasibility
of our system to not only detect very low number
of bacteria, but also to successfully differentiate
live from dead Listeria. We have performed
preliminary feasibility
analysis for the proposed
RNA hybridisation and
cleavage technology. We
have been using Listeria
monocytogenes RNA
which is available at large
quantities in our labs. We
have tested the system
against L. monocytogenes
using microplate reader
and achieved a low
detection limit of 104
to
105
cfu/ml. None viable
L. monocytogenes and E.coli have been used as a
negative control whereas bacterial culturing have
been utilised as a positive control. Currently, our
focus is to first optimise our detection limit, then
extend the application of our sensor platform for
detection of other bacteria target such as Salmonella
and E. coli O157:H7.
5. http://www.eatright.org/resource/homefoodsafety/
safety-tips/food-poisoning/most-common-foodborne-
pathogens
Rapid bio-sensor

10
NAFTEC
2.3 Integrated sustainability and risk assessment of agri- and aquaculture
Research approach and outcomes
Theassessmentisasciencebasedquantitativerisk
assessment combined with multi scale environmental
sustainability of agri- and aquaculture systems
at sectorial, national and global levels relevant to
regulatory agencies (AVA, NEA) and industries. The
quantitative risk assessment is carried out as given by
CodexAIimentarius for risk analysis of antimicrobials,
specifically on the agri- and aquaculture fields. Data
is collected for the risk assessment portion of the
risk analysis framework for hazard identification,
exposure assessment, hazard characterisation and
overall risk characterisation. The data can provide
a measure in terms of probability of illnesses in
humans caused by antimicrobial resistant bacteria
from consuming or handling food products from
agri- and aquaculture. For quantitative sustainability
assessment, life cycle assessment is the tool used
to evaluate environmental impacts of products at all
stages of the product’s life from cradle to grave. Life
cycle costing is used for economical assessment of
the products. The data from life cycle assessments
and life cycle costing can provide a measure of
sustainability in relative and absolute terms. Both
the results from the quantitative risk assessment
and quantitative sustainability assessment can
potentially be combined and integrated, contributing
to important scientific evidences that is required
for decision and policy making in the agri- and
aquaculture industries.
Expertise in both sustainability and risk assessment
are required. NAFTEC and NTU APEC Centre for
Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Fishery
Sectors have been collaborating with the division
of Quantitative Sustainability Assessment (QSA),
Department of Management Engineering at DTU,
Denmark, to investigate the integrated assessments.
Based on the aforementioned project, NAFTEC
is also collaborating with South China University of
Technology (SCUT) under the support of the Sino-
Singapore International Joint Research Institute
(SSIJRI) to develop new, science-based solutions
for efficient aquaculture production based on
quantitative risk and sustainability assessments.
Background
With little farming land and limited fishing grounds,
Singapore imports over 90% of the food consumed in
the country. The food at local markets mainly comes
from overseas. Singapore local farms produce only a
small amount of food that they eat in Singapore: 8%
of the total vegetables, 8% fish, 26% chicken eggs.
Relying so heavily on food supplied from overseas
means that Singapore faces unique challenges
in ensuring a steady supply of food for the nation.
Singapore consumes around 22 kg of fish per capita
per year and therefore is heavily reliant on seafood
imports from other countries to meet its seafood
consumption needs.
Singapore needs to emphasise the assessment
of the safety and sustainability of our agri- and
aquaculture production. The interdisciplinary nature
of this project focuses on food systems for safe and
sustainable agri- and aquaculture development, and
the development of science-based assessments as
a basis for decision support for regulatory agencies
and relevant industries.
Objectives
The objectives of this project are to address the
needsasdefinedbypolicymakersinthegovernmental
sectors as well as the relevant stakeholders in the
agriculture and aquaculture sector through ensuring
the sustainable development of agri- and aquaculture
systems while simultaneously ensuring food safety
through the One Health initiative in Singapore. The
project aims to provide useful scientific decision
support tools
which can be
used to influence
high level policy
makingintheagri-
and aquaculture
industry with
regards to animal
and human safety
as well as food
security.

11
Annual Report 2017
2.4 Food technology and gut microbiome: Functional foods targeting a
healthy gut microbiome
Background
The human digestive tract is colonised by a
complex and diverse microbial population that
contributes to health and well-being, as well as to
disease prevention. This population is referred to as
the “microbiota” and is often discussed in terms of the
microbiome which refers to the genetic composition
of this microbial population. The microbiota of the
digestive tract has been associated with chronic
metabolic, immunological and neurological diseases
and disorders including Type-2 diabetes, obesity,
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and cancer. It is
recognised that diet plays a very critical role in the
modulation of the composition and function of the
gut microbiota and therefore diet can be considered
as a means of altering the microbiome towards a
healthier state.
Objectives
NAFTEC gut microbiome programme is conducting
studies to understand the mechanisms associated
with host – diet – microbe interactions in order to
develop foods, feeds and supplements for improving
health and well-being. Our multi-disciplinary approach
includes NTU collaborators within the School of
Chemical and Biomedical Engineering (SCBE), in the
Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences
Engineering (SCELSE), the Lee Kong Chian (LKC)
School of Medicine, the School of Social Sciences,
and the Physical Education & Sports Science (PESS)
Academic Group at the National Institute of Education.
The current focus is on the ageing population and
improving quality of life for Singaporeans.
One of the objectives of the programme is to
identify markers related to aging using samples and
biodata from both young and elderly Singaporeans.
Biological samples, including stool, blood and urine
have been collected as well as information about diet,
food choices and activities. In vivo animal studies and
ex-vivo laboratory studies using stringent anaerobic
techniques are being used to study these markers
in order to develop dietary intervention strategies.
The initial studies have included grains and prebiotic
honey, and focused on alterations in the microbiota
composition and metabolites using traditional and
Next Generation Sequencing technologies (NGS)
for profiling the microbial profile, and GC-MS for
quantifying the metabolites, especially the short
chain fatty acids (SCFAs) i.e. acetate, propionate and
butyrate. Butyrate is known to improve the intestinal
barrier by facilitating tight-junction assembly,
suppressing inflammatory and allergic responses by
inducing differentiation of colonic regulatory T cells,
regulates cell apoptosis, and stimulates production
of anorectic hormones. Reduced concentrations of
butyrate have been associated with the incidence
of graft-versus-host disease, kwashiorkor, colon
cancer, and obesity.
In addition to overall microbial profiles,
specific potentially beneficial Lactobacillus and
Bifidobacterium are examined as well as the
hydrogenotrophs, especially in relation to metabolic
activity and levels of SCFAs. The hydrogen balance
in the gut is an important factor in shifting the
metabolism because more hydrogen will favour the
production of lactate and propionate, and removal
of this hydrogen which is generated as a by-
product of fermentation of dietary fibres or complex
carbohydrates, will shift the production of SCFA’s
towards acetate and butyrate. It has been shown that
dietary intervention offers a means of modulating the
microbiota and thereby beneficial effects on the host
are anticipated.

12
NAFTEC
3.1 iFood Initiative
Since 2016, NAFTEC has managed the
administration for the iFood initiative. This initiative
commenced in 2014 and is a selection of projects
funded by NTU, for the development of food related
research in collaboration with Wageningen University
and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The projects are summarised in the table below:
3. Other engagements
Food safety
Detection of food-borne bacteria with sensors
based on two-dimensional nanomaterials
Prof Zhang Hua
School of Materials
Science and
Engineering
Food toxin pre-screening by high-throughput
and accurate ion-channel diagnosis using large
arrayed CMOS ISFET sensor
Assistant Prof. Yu
Hao
School of Electrical
and Electronic
Engineering
Food safety: detection of bacterial toxins and
contaminants in complex food matrices
Prof. Bo Liedberg
School of Materials
Science and
Engineering
A novel SAW-SPR based flexible platform for
effective field biosensing of food hazard
Associate Prof.
Yuanjin Zheng
School of Electrical
and Electronic
Engineering
Nutrition and health
Colon-specific release of short-chain fatty acids
from edible polysaccharide gels and edible
polysaccharide-coated capsules
Associate Prof.
Tianhu Li
School of Physical
& Mathematical
Sciences
Why is trans-fat bad: understanding the lipotoxic
effect of trans fat
Associate Prof.
Andrew Tan Nguan
Soon
School of Biological
Sciences
Functional relationship between nutrient and
diseases
Associate Prof. Koh
Cheng Gee
Sciences
Understanding how cancer-preventing bioactive
dietary compounds (BDCs) reduce risk of
malignancy through epigenetic mechanisms by
profiling chromatin-associated proteome
Associate Prof. Sze
Siu Kwan
Sciences
Production and processing
Microbial engineering of prenylated isoflavonoids
forfunctional food applications
Prof. William Chen
School of Chemical
and Biomedical
Engineering
Capacitative protein sorting for facile
regeneration of protein sorting adsorption system
Prof. Mary Chan
School of Chemical
and Biomedical
Engineering
Intelligent food packaging based on grapheme
oxide-polylactide nanocomposites
Prof. Raymond Lau
School of Chemical
and Biomedical
Engineering
Large-scale conversion of wastes to functional
food and high-value products
Prof. James Tam
Sciences
Understanding and alleviating membrane
fouling in highly-concentrated emulsion-based
separations in food processing applications
Prof. Chew Jia Wei
School of Chemical
and Biomedical
Engineering

13
Annual Report 2017
3.2 Global Microbial Identifier Initiative
NAFTEC hosts the Global Microbial Identifier (GMI)
Initiative Steering Committee - an international
consortiumconsistingofmorethan270membersfrom
over 55 countries spanning the occupations including
clinical-, food-, and public health, microbiologists
and virologists, bio-informaticians, epidemiologists,
representatives from funding agencies, data hosting
systems, and policy makers from academia, public
health, industry and government.
The goal of the initiative is realising a global
genomic infrastructure and database for the
analysis of microbial DNA sequences to support
rapid infectious disease surveillance, diagnostics,
and prevention.
Recent activities of GMI involving NAFTEC
include drafting a letter to the ministries of health
and agriculture worldwide - advocating for the
implementation of NGS technologies in regulatory
settings, and together with the support of countries,
pushing forward for the discussion to be included the
2020 World Health Assembly. A
sample of the letter is included in
the Annex.
Furthermore, each year the
GMI holds an annual meeting
whereby participants and
interested members of the public
come together to discuss and
submit potential resolutions
for the challenges faced in the
political and technical arena of
GMI’s vision. GMI has four work
groups, as summarised below:
Work group 1
Political challenges,
outreach and building
a global network
This group is
developing a long-term
plan to shape political
level involvement in
GMI development at
the global, regional and
national level.
Work group 2
Repository and
storage of sequence
and meta-data
This group strives
towards developing
a format to capture
“Minimum Data for
Matching (MDM)”,
consisting of reads and
minimum metadata.
Work group 4
Ring trials and quality
assurance - created
three ring trials
This group is aiming
for all laboratories
globally to conduct NGS
on bacteria and virus to
the highest degree of
quality.
Work group 3
Analytical approaches
This group is
providing guidance
for the development
of analytical tools for
optimal positioning and
functioning of the GMI
platform.
Further details: http://www.globalmicrobialidentifier.org
Location of previous
and upcoming GMI
meetings

14
NAFTEC
4.1 International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) Meeting
In recent years, several new and important scientific
developments have emerged with significant
implications for the future of food production and
food safety which will directly impact the future of
food chain transparency and solutions to ensure a
safe food supply. There is recognition of the need
to seriously consider how the potential application
of new technologies should be framed within the
context of globalisation and the increasingly complex
global food chain. Additionally, there is a need for
continued strengthening of national food safety
systems including in the areas of foodborne disease
surveillance, laboratory capacity and multi-sectoral
coordination.
In November 2016, in response to the
aforementioned needs identified, Nanyang
Technological University Food Technology Centre
(NAFTEC) hosted an international meeting titled,
“New Science for Food Safety: Supporting Food
Chain Transparency for Improved Health”, to discuss
regional perspectives of food science developments
in Asia. The 3-day meeting and 1.5-day training
workshop was hosted in partnership with WHO
and FAO, and was the first INFOSAN meeting to
be open to the public, attracting approximately 175
registered participants from more than 25 countries
including prominent academics and food regulatory
authorities.
4. Hosted events
Participants of the INFOSAN meeting hosted by NAFTEC, WHO and FAO, 7 November 2016

15
Annual Report 2017
1. Foodborne disease burden
• Foodborne disease burden – overview of the
present picture and outcome of FERG
• Epidemiological utility of foodborne disease
burden estimates
• Foodborne disease burden - its application to
countries
• Attributing the disease burden to different food
groups – will it be easier in the future?
• The complementary roles of quantitative
disease burden attribution, expert elicitation
and predictive modelling for priority-setting in
regulatory agencies and in industry
• One Health Platform in Singapore
• Summary of potential for regional use of
foodborne disease burden estimates in food
science and food regulation
Five themes were presented:
2. Risk assessment and sustainability
• Using stochastic modelling in microbiological
risk assessment – practical examples
• WHO Risk assessment work, the Vibrio
examples
• Getting started on risk ranking: a guided
approach
• Addressing and assessing food safety risks at
primary production
• Quantitative sustainability assessment –
modelling the life cycle of the food products
• Sustainability of food production and food
safety/security improvements
3. Next generation (DNA) sequencing
• Advancing Food Safety and Public Health
through Shared WGS Networks and Data
• Collaborative Management Platform for
detection and Analyses of (Re-) emerging and
• foodborne outbreaks in Europe
• Applications of WGS for food safety
management
• The development of WGS in food safety
investigations in China
• Implementing WGS as a tool to strengthen
FDB surveillance and response systems: WHO
• Country guidance and tools
• Real-Time Genome Sequencing of Resistant
Bacteria Provides Precision Infection
• Control in an Institutional Setting
• The PulseNet model for NGS surveillance
• Genome Trakr – increasing outbreak
investigation potential dramatically through
NGS
• Suggesting a global system of all whole
genome sequences of all microorganisms in
the world
• Summary on for regional collaboration on NGS
in food science and food regulation
4. Novel food technology
• International Efforts to combat food fraud
• Food fraud Prevention: Policy, Strategy, and
Decision-Making
• Food preference, integrity, authenticity and
fraud mitigation
• Food authenticity and fraud, Asian initiatives for
prevention
5. The role of INFOSAN
Perspectives from:
• Indonesia
• Canada
• Singapore
• Vietnam
• Australia
• New Zealand
The INFOSAN meeting report has been
published with ISBN: 978-981-11-3189-9 and
can be retrieved at http://www.who.int/foodsafety/
areas_work/infosan/en/. The summary of the
plenary sessions are presented in the annex.

16
NAFTEC
4.2 iFood 2017 conference
Food is an essential component to the life
and growth of all living organisms. The “farm to
fork” preparation and administration of nutritive
substances often varies and is determined by socio-
economic, cultural and environmental factors. In the
developing countries, one of the key challenges is
alleviating the socio-economic burden resulting from
the lack of quality food. Meanwhile, the exercise of
poor food choices in developed nations have led to a
significant proportion of diet related diseases and a
demanding market saturated with health conscious
consumers. The scientific and technological
advancements in the food industry have driven more
sustainable food production with greater confidence
in microbiological safety, as well as value added
food products in the form of food functionality and
convenience. A continued effort in food research
is imperative to ensure society has access to safe,
efficiently produced, high quality sustenance. On
the 6th and 7th September 2017, NAFTEC hosted
a two-day iFood meeting and discussed present
food research and innovation focused on safety,
efficiency and quality food production, and to
address the associated challenges in bringing forth
benefits to society. Approximately 116 registered
participants from more than 10 countries attended
this conference. The meeting included active
participation of most of the presenters and many
participants. Experience, ideas and perspectives
were exchanged openly and led to deeper and more
innovative questions apart from those mentioned
above. It is hoped that such debate will contribute
to providing a broader scientific basis for a safer and
more sustainable food production in the region and
the world.
Three themes were presented:
1. Food safety
• Detection of food-borne bacteria with sensors
based on 2D nanomaterials
• Food toxin pre-screening by high – throughput
and accurate ion-channel diagnosis using large
arrayed CMOS ISFET sensor
• Food safety: detection of bacterial toxins and
contaminants in complex food matrices
• A novel SAW-SPR based flexible platform for
effective field bio sensing of food hazard
• Environmental impact assessment of veterinary
drug on fish aquaculture for food safety
The IFOOD report has been published
with ISBN: 978-981-11-7149-90. The brief
outcome is presented as ANNEX 2.
2. Nutrition and health
• Colon-specific release of short-chain fatty acids
from edible polysaccharide gels and edible
polysaccharide-coated capsules
• Why is trans-fat bad: understanding the
lipotoxic effect of trans fat
• Functional relationship between nutrient and
diseases
• Understanding how cancer- preventing
bioactive dietary compounds (BDCs) reduce
risk of malignancy through epigenetic
mechanisms by profiling chromatin-associated
proteome
• The risk of low concentrations of antibiotics in
agriculture for resistance in human health care
3. Production and processing
• Microbial engineering of prenylated
isoflavonoids for functional food applications
• Capacitative protein sorting for facile
regeneration of protein sorting adsorption
system
• Understanding and alleviating membrane
fouling in highly concentrated emulsion based
separations in food processing applications
• Large scale conversion of wastes to functional
food and high-value products
• Intelligent food packaging based on grapheme
oxide-polylactide nanocomposites

17
Annual Report 2017
4.3 Food Safety Risk Analysis seminar
On 14th September 2017, Agri-Food & Veterinary
Authority of Singapore, NAFTEC and International
Life Sciences Institute Southeast Asian Region
jointly organised a one-day seminar on “Food Safety
Risk Analysis” at the Veterinary Public Health Centre
of AVA. The speakers were Dr Samuel Godefroy,
Professor from University Laval and Dr Manfred
Lützow, Director of saqual GmbH Wettingen. The
seminar provided an overview on risk analysis
framework and discuss its components, as well
as to share case studies on risk analysis of food
contaminants. The seminar was a great success,
with wide spread of participants, spanning across
seven government agencies (including government
representatives from South Korea and Hong Kong),
two institutes of higher learning, and several major
local food manufacturers. The value of the event
is not limited to the technical knowledge shared,
but also serves as a baby step toward establishing
commonality and alignment amongst the private and
public sectors, both locally and regionally.
Left to right: Dr Paul Chiew (Group Director, Laboratories Group), Dr Chew Siang Thai
(Managing Director/AVA), Dr Samuel Godefroy, Dr Manfred Luetzow, Mr Geoffry Smith
(President, ILSI SEA Region) and Prof Joergen Schlundt (Director, NAFTEC).
4.4 Next generation sequencing training workshop
As part of the 2016 INFOSAN meeting, a 1.5
day WGS training session took place to provide
an introduction to next generation sequencing
technology involving lectures and computer
exercises. The participants included food safety
regulators, food control laboratory staff and food
scientists from Universities mainly from the Asia
region. The highly positive reception of the training
course has encouraged NAFTEC to organise future
training sessions.

18
NAFTEC
5. Achievements
Research funding - awarded grants
“Establishment of a novel Salmonella genotype
database for source tracking analysis and
investigationofpathogenicmechanisms”,Singapore
Ministry of Education
“New, science based solutions for efficient
aquaculture production based on quantitative risk
and sustainability assessments”, Sino Singapore
International Joint Research Institute
“Human gut microbiome investigations through
metagenomics testing in relevant cohorts enabling
novel understanding of connection between lifestyle,
diet, microbiome composition and health status”,
NTU internal grant
“AutoSENS: Development of a rapid, ultra-
sensitive, cost effective biosensor for autonomous
monitoring of Listeria monocytogenes in food
industries”, Singapore Millennium Foundation
Publications
Bohnes, F.A., Gregg, J.S., Laurent, A., 2017.
Environmental impacts of future urban deployment
of electric vehicles: assessment framework and case
study of Copenhagen for 2016−2030. Environmental
Science & Technology 51:13995−14005. Chaudhary
P.P., Schlundt, J. (2017) Exercise and Gut
Microbiome. Journal of Molecular Microbiology, 1:
1-7.
Chaudhary P.P., Schlundt, J. (2017) Exercise and
gut microbiome. Journal of Molecular Biology 1(1):7
Chaudhary, P.P., Rulík, M., Blaser, M. (2017) Is the
methanogenic community reflecting the methane
emissions of river sediments? – Comparison of
two study sites. MicrobiologyOpen doi: 10.1002/
mbo3.454.
Dar, O., Hasan R., Schlundt, J., Harbarth, S.,
Caleo, G., Dar, F., Littman, J., Rweyemamu, M.,
Buckley, E., Shahid, M., Kock, R., Li, H.L., Giha, H.,
Khan, M., So, A., Bindayna, K.M., Kessel, A., Bak
Pedersen, H., Permanand, G., Zumla, A., Heymann,
D.L. (2016) Effective antimicrobials in an era of
growing resistance: exploring the evidence base for
policy interventions. The Lancet 397(10015): 285-
295.
Deshpande, G.,Rao,S.,Athalye-Jape, G.,Conway,
P., Patole, S. (2016) Probiotics in very preterm
infants: the PiPS trial. The Lancet 388(10045): 655.
Esvaran, M. and Conway, P. (2016) Factors that
influence the immunological adjuvant effect of
Lactobacillus fermentum PC1 on specific immune
responses in mice to orally administered antigens.
Vaccines 4(3): 24.
Gaci, N., Chaudhary, P.P., Tottey, W., Alric, M.,
Brugère, J.F (2017) Functional amplification and
preservation of human gut microbiota. Microbial
Ecology of Health and Disease 28(1): 1308070.
Gaci, N., Flemer, B., Borrel, G., Sanderson,
I.R., Chaudhary, P.P., Tottey, W., O’Toole, P.W.
Brugère, J.F. (2017) Faecal microbiota variation
across the lifespan of the healthy laboratory rat. Gut
Microbes 8(5):428-439.
Hou, Z., Shankar Y. V. , Liu, Y., Ding, F.,
Subramanion, J. L., Ravikumar, V., Zamudio-
Vázquez, R., Keogh, D., Lim, H., Tay, M. Y. F.,
Bhattacharjya, S., Rice, S. A., Shi, J., Duan, H.,
Liu, X. W., Mu, Y., Tan, N. S., Tam, K. C., Pethe,
K., Chan-Park, M. B. (2017) Nanoparticles of short
cationic peptidopolysaccharide self-assembled by
hydrogen bonding with antibacterial effect against
multidrug-resistant bacteria. ACS Applied Materials
& Interfaces 9(44):38288-38303.
Lee, Y. K., Conway, P., Pettersson, S., Nair, G. B,
Surono, I., Egayanti, Y., Amarra, M. S. (2017) ILSI
Southeast Asia Region conference proceedings:
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Asia Pacific Journal Clinical Nutrition 26(5): 957:971.
Patole, S, Keil, AD, Nathan, E, Doherty, D,
Esvaran, M, Simmer, KN, Conway, PL. (2016) Effect
of Bifidobacterium breve M-16V supplementation on
fecal bifidobacteria in growth restricted very preterm
infants -analysis from a randomised trial. Journal of
Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine 29(23): 3751-
3755.
Schlundt, J. and Aarestrup, F.M. (2017)
Commentary: Benefits and risks of antimicrobial use
in food-producing animals. Frontiers in Microbiology
8:181.
Schlundt, J., Conway, P., Yang, N., Feng, M.T.Y.,
Ghee, K.S.L., Shi, J., Guo, S., Yang, Z., Heilmann,
M., Takeuchi, M., Ben Embarek, P., Savelli, C. (2017)
New Science for Food safety: Supporting Food
Chain Transparency for Improved Health. Report of
the INFOSAN Meeting in Regional Perspectives of
Food Science Developments in Asia ISBN: 978-981-
11-3189-9.
Wielinga, P.R., Hendriksen, R.S., Aarestrup, F.M.,
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Deng, X., den Bakker, H.C., Hendriksen, R.S. (Eds.)
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Yang, N., Ashton, J., Gorczyca, E. & Kasapis, S.
(2017) In-vitro starch hydrolysis of chitosan, whey
protein and wheat starch composite gels. Heliyon 3:
1-16.
Yang, N. Sampathkumar, K. & Loo, J.S.C.
(2016) Recent advances in complementary and
replacement therapy with nutraceuticals in combating
gastrointestinal illnesses. Clinical Nutrition 36: 968-
979.

19
Annual Report 2017
iFood Initiative projects
Food Safety
Ben Haddada, M. Hu, D., Salmain, M., Zhang, L.
Peng, C., Wang, Y., Liedberg, B. & Boujiday, S. (2017)
Gold nanoparticle-based localized surface plasmon
immunosensor for staphylococcal enterotoxin
A (SEA) detection. Analytical and Bioanalytical
Chemistry 409: 6227-6234.
Chen, P.; Liu, X.; Goyal, G.; Tran, N.T.; Ho, J.C.S.;
Wang, Y.;Aili, D.; Liedberg, B. (2018) Nanoplasmonic
sensing from the human vision perspective. Analytical
Chemistry 90: 4916-4924.
Chen, P., Tran, N.T., Wen, X., Xiong, Q.;Liedberg,
B. (2017) Inflection point of the localized surface
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Ding, R., Liu, H., Zhang, X., Kishor, R., Sun, H.,
Gao, F., Feng, X., Zheng, Y., Xiao, J., Chen, J., Zhu,
B., Chen, G., Chen, X. & Sun, X. (2016) Flexible
piezoelectric nanocomposite generators based on
formamidinium lead halide perovskite nanoparticles.
Advanced Functional Materials 26: 7708-7716.
Gao, F., Feng, X., Zhang, R., Liu, S., Zheng, Y., Bai,
L., Tham, H.P., Zhang, Y., Zhao, L. & Zhao, Y.(2016)
Remarkable in vivo nonlinear photoacoustic imaging
based on near-infrared organic dyes. Small 12(38):
5239-5244.
Huang, X., Yu, H., Liu, X., Jiang, Y. & Yang, M.
(2015) A single-frame super resolution algorithm for
lab-on-a-chip lensless microfluidic imaging. IEEE
Design and Test 32: 32-40.
Huang, X., Yu, H., Liu, X., Jiang Y., Yan, M. & Wu,
D. (2015) A dual-mode large-arrayed CMOS ISFET
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Jiang, Y., Liu, X., Dang, T.C., Huang, X., Feng,
H., Zhang, Q. & Yu, H. (2018) A high-sensitivity
potentiometric 65-nm CMOS ISFET sensor for rapid
E. coli screening. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical
Circuits and Systems 12: 402-415.
Kishor, R., Gao, F., Sreejith, S., Feng, X., Seah,
Y.P., Wang, Z., Stuparu, M.C., Lim, T.T., Chen,
X. & Zheng, Y. (2016) Photoacoustic induced
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Kishor, R., Seah, Y.P., Zheng, Y.J., Xia, H.M., Wang,
Z.F., Lu, H.J. & Lim, T.T. (2015) Characterization of
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Liu, X., Huang, X., Jianh, Y., Xu, H., Guo, J., Hou,
H.W., Yan, M. & Yu, H. (2017)Amicrofluidic cytometer
for complete blood count with a 3.2-megapixel, 1.1-
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nm BSI CMOS. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical
Circuits and Systems 11: 794-803.
Tan, C., Yu, P., Hu, Y., Chen, J., Huang, Y., Cai,
Y., Luo, Z., Li, B., Lu, Q., Wang, L., Liu, Z. & Zhang,
H. (2015) High-yield exfoliation of ultrathin two-
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Tan, C. & Zhang, H. (2015) Two-dimensional
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Wang, Y.; Liu, X.; Chen, P.; Tran, N. T.; Zhang,
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Wang, Y., Zhao, M., Ping, J., Chen, B., Cao, X.,
Huang, Y., Tan, C., Ma, Q., Wu, S., Yu, Y., Lu, Q.,
Chen, J., Zhao, W., Ying, Y. & Zhang, H. (2016)
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organic-framework nanosheets used as biomimetic
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Zhang, Y., Zheng, B., Zhu, C., Zhang, X., Tan, C., Li,
H., Chen, B., Yang, J., Cheng, J., Huang, Y., Wang,
L. & Zhang, H. (2015) Single-layer transition metal
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rapid, sensitive, and multiplexed detection of DNA.
Advanced Materials 27: 935-939.
Zhao, M., Wang, Y., Ma, Q., Huang, Y., Zhang,
X., Ping, J., Zhang, Z., Lu, Q., Yu, Y., Xu, H., Zhao,
Y. & Zhang, H. (2015) Ultrathin 2D metal-organic
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Zheng, Y., Feng, X., Gao, F., Kishor, R. & Zheng,
Y. (2015) Coexisting and mixing phenomena of
thermoacoustic and magnetoacoustic waves in
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Nutrition and Health
Adav, S.S., Hwa, H.H. & De Kleijn, D., Sze, S.K.
(2015) Improving blood plasma glycoproteome
coverage by coupling ultracentrifugation fractionation
to electrostatic repulsion-hydrophilic interaction
chromatography enrichment. Journal of Proteome
Research 14(7): 2828-2838.
Adav, S.S., Ravindran, A. & Sze, S.K. (2015)
Quantitative proteomic study of Aspergillus fumigatus
secretome revealed deamidation of secretory
enzymes. Journal of Proteomics 119: 154-168.
Chen, C., Gallart-Palau, X., Serra, A., Lai, M.K.P.,
Gallart-Palau, X., Serra, A., Wong, A.S.W., Sandin,
S., Sze, S.K., Lai, M.K.P., Chen, C.P. & Kon, O.L.
(2015) Extracellular vesicles are rapidly purified
from human plasma by PRotein Organic Solvent
PRecipitation (PROSPR). Scientific Reports 5:
14664.
Gallart-Palau, X., Serra, A. & Sze, S.K. (2016)
Enrichment of extracellular vesicles from tissues of
the central nervous system by PROSPR. Molecular
Neurodegeneration 11: 1-13.

20
NAFTEC
Oteng, A.B, Kersten, S., Bhattacharya, A., Qi, L.,
Brodesser, S. & Tan, N.S. (2017) Feeding Angptl4-/
mice trans-fat promotes foam cell formation in
mesenteric lymph nodes without leading to ascites.
Journal of Lipid Research 58: 1100-1113.
Park, J.E., Sun, Y., Tam, J.P., Sze, S.K., Lim, S.K.,
Dekker, M. & Chen, H. (2017) Dietary phytochemical
PEITC restricts tumor development via modulation
of epigenetic writers and erasers. Scientific Reports
12(7): 40569.
Phua, T., Sng, M.K., Tan, E.H.P., Chee, D.S.L., Li,
Y., Wee, J.W.K., Teo, Z., Chan, J.S.K., Lim, M.M.K.,
Zhu, P.,Tan, N.S.,Arulampalam, V. &Tan, C.K. (2017)
Angiopoietin-like 4 mediates colonic inflammation
by regulating chemokine transcript stability via
tristetraprolin. Scientific Reports 7: 44351.
Serra, A., Gallart-Palau, X., See-Toh, R.S.E.,
Hemu, X., Tam, J.P. & Sze, S.K. (2016) Commercial
processed soy-based food product contains glycated
and glycoxidated lunasin proteoforms. Scientific
Reports 6: 26106.
Sunil, S.A.,Anita, R. & Siu Kwan, S. (2015) Data for
iTRAQ secretomic analysis of Aspergillus fumigatus
in response to different carbon sources. Data in Brief
3: 175-179.
Zhang, S., Weng, T., Guo, T., Chan, H., Sze,
S.K., Koh, C.G. & Cheruba, E. (2017) Phosphatase
POPX2 exhibits dual regulatory functions in cancer
metastasis. Journal of Proteome Research 16: 698-
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Production and Processing
Wang, Y., El-Deen, A.G., Li, P., Oh, B.H., Guo, Z.,
Khin, M.M., Vikhe, Y.S., Wang, J., Hu, R.G., Boom
R.M., Kline, K.A., Becker, D.L., Duan, H., Chan-
Park, M.B. 2015. High-performance capacitive
deionization disinfection of water with graphene
oxide-graft quaternized chitosan nanohybrid
electrode coating. ACS Nano 9: 10142-57.
El-Deen, A.G., Duan, H., Chan-Park, M.B., Boom,
R.M., Kim, H.Y. & Choi, J.H. 2016. Flexible 3D
nanoporous graphene for desalination and bio-
decontamination of brackish water via asymmetric
capacitive deionization. ACS Applied Materials and
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Goh, K., Jiang, W., Karahan, H. E., Zhai, S., Wei,
L., Yu, D., Fane, A. G., Wang, R., Chen, Y. 2015.
All carbon nano-architectures as high performance
membranes with superior stability. Advanced
Functional Materials 25: 7348-7359.
Goh, K., Heising, J.K.,Yuan,Y., Karahan, H.E., Wei,
L., Zhai, S., Koh, J.X., Htin, N.M., Zhang, F., Wang,
R., Fane, A.G., Dekker, M., Dehghani, F., Chen,
Y. 2016. Sandwich-architectured poly(lactic acid)-
graphene composite food packaging films, ACS
Applied Materials & Interfaces. 8: 9994–10004.
Hemu, X., Qiu, Y., Nguyen, G.K. & Tam, J.P.
2016. Total synthesis of circular bacteriocins by
butelase 1. Journal of the American Chemical
Society 138: 6968-71.
Jiang, W., Zhai, S., Qian, Q., Yuan, Y., Karahan,
H.E., Wei, L., Goh, K., Ng, A.K., Wei, J., Chen, Y.
2016. Space-confined assembly of all-carbon hybrid
fibers for capacitive energy storage: realizing a build-
to-order concept for micro-supercapacitors. Energy
& Environmental Science 9: 611-622.
Jiang, W., Zhai, S., Wei, L., Yuan, Y., Yu,
D., Wang, L., Wei, J., Chen, Y., 2015. Nickel
hydroxide-carbon nanotube nanocomposites as
supercapacitor electrodes: crystallinity dependent
performances. Nanotechnology 26: 314003.
Karahan, H.E., Wei, L., Goh, K., Christian,
W., Liu, Z., Xu, C., Jiang, R., Wei, J., Chen, Y.
2016. Synergism of water shock and a biocompatible
block copolymer potentiates the antibacterial activity
of graphene oxide. Small 12: 951-962.
Nguyen, G.K., Hemu, X., Quek, J.P. & Tam, J.P.
2016. butelase-mediated macrocyclization of amino-
acid-containing peptides. Angewandte Chemie
International Edition in English 55: 12802-6.
Nguyen, G.K., Qiu, Y., Cao, Y., Hemu, X., Liu, C.F.
& Tam, J.P.2016. Butelase-mediated cyclization
and ligation of peptides and proteins. Nature
Protocols 11: 1977-1988.
Wei, L., Karahan, H. E., Goh, K., Jiang, W., Yu,
D.S., Birer, O., Chen, Y. 2015. High performance
metal-free electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution
reaction from bacteria derived carbon, Journal of
Materials Chemistry A 3: 7210-7214.
Wei, L., Liu, B., Wang, X., Gui, H., Yuan, Y.,
Zhai, S., Ng, A. K., Zhou, C., Chen, Y. 2015.
Single walled carbon nanotubes from aqueous
two-phase separation for thin film transistor
applications, Advanced Electronic Materials
1: 1500151.
Wei, L., Karahan, H.E., Zhai, S., Yuan, Y., Qian, Q.,
Goh, K., Ng, A.K., Chen, Y. 2016. Microbe-derived
carbon materials for electrical energy storage and
conversion. Journal of Energy Chemistry 25: 189-
196.
Yu, D.S., Zhai, S., Jiang, W., Wei, L., Goh, L.,
Chen, X., Jiang, R., Chen, Y. 2015. transforming
pristine carbon fiber tows into high performance
solid-state fiber supercapacitors. Advanced
Materials 27: 4895–4901.

21
Annual Report 2017
10th Global Microbial Identifier Meeting, 15 – 17 May
2017, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Food for the Future: Quality, Safety & Sustainability,
iFood Conference, on behalf of the NTU iFood
Initiative, 6-7 Sep. 2017, Singapore.
Food safety risk analysis, seminar, co-hosted with
Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, &
International Life Sciences Institute Southeast Asian
Region, 14 Sep. 2017, Singapore.
Diagnostics of foodborne infections and antimicrobial
resistance in foodborne pathogens, seminar,
presented by Prof. Karen A. Krogfeldt, Statens
Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, 14 Nov.
2017, Singapore.
Courses
CH9220 – Food Standards – In Food Production &
Trade
Course Coordinator: Joergen Schlundt
Teaching Assistant(s): Natasha Yang, Kelyn Seow
Lee Ghee
INFOSAN banner at NTU entrance
Hosted events
On Decision Support for Sustainability and Resilience
of Infrastructure, Seminar, presented by Michael
Havbro Faber, Technical University of Denmark, 8
June 2016, Singapore.
International Food Safety Authorities Network
Conference on New Science for Food Safety, co-
organised with The World Health Organization &
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, 7-9 November 2016, Singapore.
International Food Safety Authorities Network
Whole Genome Sequencing Training Workshop,
co-organised with The World Health Organization &
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, 10 November 2016, Singapore.
NAFTEC representative at the BfR Summer Academy in Berlin
NAFTEC participation at the 10th Global Microbial
Identifier Meeting

22
NAFTEC
Keynote presentations
Schlundt, Joergen. “NGS And One Health: The
Case For An Open International Database For
Whole Genome Sequences Of Microorganisms”,
3rd Annual Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Conference, Singapore, 12.Oct 2016.
Schlundt, Joergen. “Creating a Global System
to share Whole Genome Sequences of all
Microorganisms”, The Global Microbial Identifier, Int.
Food Safety and Quality, Shanghai, China, 2-3 Nov.
2016.
Schlundt, Joergen. “The Need for Surveillance
to Document Effect of Policies to Reduce Animal
Use of Antimicrobials”, International Conference on
Global Food Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance,
Shenzhen, China, 14-16 Nov. 2016.
Schlundt, Joergen. “Foodborne Disease Burden
and Antimicrobial Resistance, Growing Global
Problems”, Global One Health Conference,
Melbourne, Australia, 4-7 Dec. 2016.
Schlundt, Joergen. “Empowering Global Food
Safety through Whole Genome Sequencing”, Int.
Conference on Next Gen Sequencing, Bangkok,
Thailand, 20-22 Feb, 2017.
Conway, Patricia. “The Role of Probiotics in Infant
Health and Well-being”, 2nd Probiotics Congress,
Hong Kong, 1-2 Mar. 2017.
Schlundt, Joergen. “Foodborne Disease
Surveillance: the Need for Science-based Action,
National Food Safety Training”, Jakarta, Indonesia,
13-14 Mar, 2017.
Schlundt, Joergen. “Sustainable Development in
Agriculture and Fishery Sectors - Opportunities for
Science-based Change”, Asian-Pacific Aquaculture
Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 26-28 July,
2017.
Conway, Patricia. “The Prebiotic Properties of
Australian Honeys: a Possible Dietary Intervention
for Healthy Ageing”, iFood Conference: food for the
future: quality, safety and sustainability, Singapore,
6-7 Sep. 2017.
Schlundt, Joergen. “Antimicrobial Resistance
and Foodborne Disease Burden”, Meerut Inst. of
Engineering and Tech. Research Conference, Delhi,
India, 23 Sep. 2017.
Schlundt, Joergen. “The Revolutionary Future
Global Use of NGS: Global Microbial Identifier”,
USFDA & DA Genome Trackr NGS Meeting,
Washington DC, USA, 13-15 Oct, 2017.
Conway, Patricia. “ Antimicrobial Resistance:
from Knowledge to Action”, Public Health Thought
Leadership Dialogue presented by Professor Keiji
Fukuda, Singapore, 1 Nov. 2017.
Schlundt, Joergen. “Whole Genome Sequencing -
Linking Public Health and Food Safety in S.E. Asia”,
China Int. Food Safety and Quality Conference,
Beijing; China, 1-2 Nov. 2017.
Conway, Patricia. “Targeting Digestive Health to
Delay the Development of Degenerative Diseases
in the Elderly”,1st ARISE Research Symposium,
Singapore, 11 Nov. 2017.
Conway, Patricia. “The Role of Gut Microbiota in
Human Health and Disease”, 10th Scientific Seminar
on Probiotics and Prebiotics: Role in Promoting Gut
Microbiota & Health– A scientific and regulatory
update. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 22 Nov. 2017.
Schlundt, Joergen. “Moving forward the AMR
Agenda - New Lab and Epi Tools Meeting: WHO
International Food Safety Authorities Network,
Geneva, Switzerland, 12-13 Dec 2017.
Participants at the iFood 2017 Conference

23
Annual Report 2017
News articles
Boh, Samantha. “New Research Centre at NTU to
Study How Food Can Be Made More Efficiently and
Safely”. The Straits Times. 7 Nov. 2016. Online
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/new-
research-centre-at-ntu-to-study-how-food-can-be-
made-more-efficiently-and-safely
Boh, Samantha. “New NTU Unit to Study Food
Safety, Boost Health”. The Straits Times. 8 Nov.
2016. Online
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/new-ntu-
unit-to-study-food-safety-boost-health
Cheow, Su-Ann. “AVA to Ramp Up Monitoring of
Farms for Resistant Bacteria”. The Straits Times.
4 Dec. 2017. Online https://www.straitstimes.com/
singapore/environment/ava-to-ramp-up-monitoring-
of-farms-for-resistant-bacteria
Schlundt, Jorgen. “Fighting a Plague that Could
Lead to More Deaths than Cancer”. The Straits
Times. 2 Nov. 2017. Online https://www.straitstimes.
com/opinion/fighting-a-plague-that-could-lead-to-
more-deaths-than-cancer Interviews
“Interview with Prof. Joergen Schlundt”, S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies,
NTS-Asia Consortium Annual Conference 2018,
Singapore, 27-28 March 2018. Online https://youtu.
be/tmW9agcbQ50
Khew, Caroline. “Facts, Not Fears, the Key to
Dealing with GM Foods”. The Straits Times. 1 Apr.
2016. Online https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/
facts-not-fears-the-key-to-dealing-with-gm-foods
Tay, Tiffany Fumiko. “No Traces of Banned
Antibiotics in Shrimps and Prawns from Malaysia
and Singapore: AVA”. The Straits Times. 11
Apr. 2016. Online https://www.straitstimes.com/
singapore/no-traces-of-banned-antibiotics-in-
shrimps-and-prawns-from-malaysia-in-singapore-
ava
Wee, Lea. “Mosquito Repelling Plants Fly Off
Shelves”. The Straits Times. 10 Sep. 2016. Online
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/home-design/
anti-mozzie-plants-snapped-up
“Eating Too Much Saturated Fat Can Cause Gut
Inflammation: NTU Study”. The Straits Times. 3
May 2017. Online https://www.straitstimes.com/
singapore/health/eating-too-much-saturated-fat-
can-cause-gut-inflammation-ntu-study

24
NAFTEC
6. Future outlook
The creation of NAFTEC at the Nanyang
Technological University represents a clear indication
of the University’s wish to strengthen food science
and food technology research in Singapore.
This comes at a time where international
developments suggest major opportunities for
science-based improvements for food technology
optimisation. The practical use of science to make
better decisions in relation to food production, food
security and food safety is now often referred to as
‘decision support’. The focus of NAFTECs work to
develop decision support tools and data relates to
the benefit of integration in at least four dimensions:
• Integration throughout the food production chains
‘Farm-to-Table’,
• Integration across food technology disciplines
(microbiological, chemical risk/benefit
assessments, sustainability assessments and
solutions),
• Integration with relevant engineering sectors
(environmental, chemical, biological, economical),
and
• Integration with global development and use
of novel technologies and big-data (e.g. DNA
sequencing).
NAFTEC has initiated work specifically based on
the revolutionary introduction of next-generation
DNA sequencing in relation to microorganisms and
food. This relates to good microorganisms in food
and their health effects in the gut of humans (and
animals), and it relates to the characterisation and
prevention of pathogenic microorganisms in food,
responsible for a significant disease burden and for
an increase in problems with antimicrobial resistance.
In these endeavors NAFTEC relies on the already
existing capacity for next generation sequencing
at NTU, specifically in SCELSE (Singapore Centre
for Environmental Life Science Engineering).
The concentration of expertise in relation to
sequencing technology, but also the development
of bioinformatics at NTU has created the possibility
for rapid introduction of these ground-breaking
techniques also in the food area.
Since food technology and food production
in general involves many different disciplines,
the continued NAFTEC construction will involve
significant interaction across school and centre
boundaries at NTU, constituting a hub of applied
science supporting technology as well as decision
support developments. This hub will link into other

25
Annual Report 2017
Schools and Faculties at NTU, and on the outside
NAFTEC will reach out specifically to NUS, A-STAR,
AVA, NEA, MoH as well as various polytechnic
colleges.
In a broader sense the initiative will build capacity in
Singapore for food technology and for risk-, benefit,
and sustainability assessment, i.e. for the decision
support needed to optimise food production, food
innovation and food control, thus providing a needed
support hub for industries and regulatory agencies
nationally and in the region. Specifically, collaborative
links have already been built with ASEAN member
countries as well as other countries in Asia.
The future of decision support will be based in
microbiological, chemical and modelling expertise.
While such expertise is needed in general in
Singapore’s food production environment, a
specific focus on food ingredients (development,
measurement and evaluation) is an area where the
new initiative will provide novel capacity to the region.
It should be noted that specific collaboration with
some (of the few) countries with specific ingredients
science centers is a real possibility already under
investigation.
Specifictechnologicalinnovations,includingventure
into 3-D printing of foods for specific nutritional
needs as well as techniques for encapsulation and
release of specific (microbiological or chemical)
ingredients for optimised delivery of food ingredients
is already under investigation at NAFTEC.
Likewise, NAFTEC has initiated work in the
full food production chain in order to enable
Farm-to-Table and One-Health analysis of food
production issues and food technology solutions. This
is based on the recent international understanding
of the need for new preventative, technological
approaches in the food production chain to enable
safer, more sustainable and healthier food production.
NAFTEC has also already at this stage initiated
significant collaborative links with external partners,
such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the WHO
Collaborative Centre for Genomics at Technical
University of Denmark, the UN Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO). Such scientific contacts, and
others, will enable exchange of scientific staff and
ideas, while strategic agendas will be enabled
through direct links to APEC and ASEAN initiatives
in the region.

26
NAFTEC
Annexes
ANNEX I INFOSAN 2016: New science for food safety: supporting food
chain transparency for improved health
Outcome of plenary sessions (PS)
PS1: Foodborne Disease Burden
In a number of disease areas, efforts are prioritised
through the application of science-based estimations
of disease burden, typically assessed through the
use of ‘Disability Adjusted Life Years’(DALYs). This
approach enables objective comparison of different
disease complexes. In the area of foodborne
diseases, efforts lead by the WHO has focused on
providing the first global estimates of foodborne
disease burden, culminating in the release of a report
inDecember2015,withglobalandregionalestimates.
The regional application of tools for this type of
estimation and comparison will enable a focused,
science- based and coordinated approach. During
this session, experts involved in the development
of the global FBD burden estimates presented the
various applications from the perspective of their
own country-context. Facilitated group discussions
elicited feedback on the potential for regional use
of FBD burden estimates in food science and food
regulation.
PS2: Risk Assessment and Sustainability
The capacity to model in areas with major inherent
uncertainties has resulted in a general move from
deterministic tostochasticriskassessments.Thishas
been the background for the recent developments
in microbiological risk assessment, which come at
a time when technologies enable novel use of side-
streams in food production, for example through
significantly improved extraction capacity for both
proteins and carbohydrates. During this session,
experts explained how such developments can
improve the production efficiency and sustainability
of food production chains and at the same time enable
the use of new data in decision-support systems
based on stochastic modelling for an integrated
assessment of risks, benefits and sustainability of
food production throughout the food chain.
PS3: Next Generation (DNA) Sequencing
The emergence of the novel ‘Next Generation
DNA Sequencing’ (NGS) will enable direct, real-
time, linkages of microbiological data between
primary production, food sector and clinical sector,
in effect enabling a better One Health perspective
relative to food production and prevention of
foodborne disease locally, regionally and globally.
Of particular importance is the fact that this new
technology not only can drive change in relation
to more efficient foodborne disease prevention
and outbreak detection, it can also lead to food
technology and food quality improvements (using
positive microbiology) as well as to better food chain
traceability, based on a novel capacity to share large
volumes of relevant data around the globe. During
this session, experts from the Americas, Europe
and Asia provided the latest developments and
applications of whole genome sequencing (WGS)
in food safety. Facilitated group discussions elicited
feedback on ideas for potential collaboration related
to NGS in food science and food regulation in the
region and beyond.
PS4: Novel Food Technology – Food Fraud
Detection and Prevention
The addition of microorganisms (probiotics) and
chemicalsubstances(prebiotics)tofoodhasreceived
a great deal of attention, for their potential alleviation
to a long list of non-communicable (obesity, diabetes,
cardio-vascular disease) and communicable
diseases. Linked to such developments are also the
issues around health claims and ways of assessing
them, an area presently receiving significant interest
in Europe and North America. These issues also
have significant implications for the rapid rise in
internet sales of food and associated challenges, as
well as food fraud and the new methods to combat
these. Communication about quality, risk, benefit,
nutrition and safety need to be clear and simple –
and preferably consistent across borders. During
this session, experts from academia, industry and
international organisations presented some of the
latest trends in food fraud detection techniques.
Discussion during plenary reiterated the importance
of this area as an emerging issue that requires due
attention, with an apparent need for international
agreement about how national information on food
fraud can be shared across borders.
PS5: Role of INFOSAN
The INFOSAN Secretariat opened the session with
some introductory remarks about INFOSAN and the
ways in which members communicate, highlighting
the use of the INFOSAN Community Website as
a platform for information exchange. Six panelists
including INFOSAN Emergency Contact Points, Focal
Points, and Advisory Group members discussed the
role of INFOSAN with respect to the implications of
new technologies and initiatives for the prevention,
detection and response to international food safety

27
Annual Report 2017
emergencies. Several panelists, with the use of case
studies, discussed how we must adapt our systems,
work collaboratively, and think creatively to stay
current and keep food safe with a rapidly changing
global food supply. Themes from the meeting were
tied together to showcase how INFOSAN is or can
be used as a platform to communicate during food
safety emergencies, improve national multi-sectoral
collaboration, and share information that could be
useful to INFOSAN members around the globe to
keep food safe.
Panelists shared experiences with meeting
participants to illustrate INFOSAN in action during
food safety emergencies in Asia and beyond.
Panelists also shared their thoughts on future
directions in light of new scientific and technological
advances and initiatives that were discussed during
the previous sessions of the meeting. The session
served as a capstone to the meeting, and provided
the INFOSAN Secretariat with some parting wisdom
on how to best utilise INFOSAN in the region and
globally in a changing world. By sharing examples of
best practices in their respective countries, and tying
these to INFOSAN aims, panelists demonstrated
to participants what has worked in their respective
national context and made suggestions on how other
INFOSAN members may engage in the future.
Conclusions and future outlook
Overall, it was concluded that the meeting:
1.Providedauniqueforumforknowledgeexchange
between food safety regulators, scientists INFOSAN
members and academicians from Asia, Europe,
Oceania, Africa and the Americas with a focus on
new scientific developments in food science and risk
assessment;
2. Facilitated the understanding of new scientific
developments including the application of NGS
technology for food safety and highlighted important
areas for potential regional collaboration in Asia to
improve food safety in the region and beyond;
3. Provided the opportunity for participants
to debate the systematic use of a risk analysis
framework including science-based, independent
risk assessment and new foodborne disease burden
estimates to prioritise and focus food safety and food
control action;
4. Highlighted the utility of INFOSAN in the
region for identifying and responding to food safety
emergencies, and identified several ways in which
INFOSAN can be strengthened in the region and
beyond through actions taken by members as well
as by FAO and WHO;
5. Emphasised the need for regional efforts to
continue fostering collaboration between food
safety regulators and scientists in the future,
and INFOSAN could play an important part by
encouraging information-sharing on relevant training
opportunities, best practices and lessons learned,
and by facilitating information exchange on relevant
food safety issues.
ANNEX II IFOOD 2017: Food for the future: quality, safety and sustainability
Discussion and outcome
In the discussion section for Day 1, presenters and
participants exchanged their opinions about the real
life challenges in food safety monitoring. They also
discussed about food sustainability and its connection
and combination with risk assessment. One presenter
gave an example of synthetic meat to better illustrate
this discussion. Some participants also raised interest
about the advanced food processing technology
discussed and the feasibility of the application of these
technologies to industry. There was an interesting and
enthusiastic debate about how to deal with the gap
between researchers, industry and policy makers
relative to new technologies/new methodologies. The
aspects including confidentiality, data sharing and
transparency were discussed.Through the experience
shared by several participants, it came to a conclusion
that everyone should work with an open mind. The
industries have responsibility to the society that they
cannot merely focus on benefit and keep things
to themselves, but also the timely communication
with researchers and better feedback to the public.
The government shall improve the transparency
of research data and results to the public, who has
the right to understand and comprehend what is
happening in their everyday life.
In the discussion for Day 2, there was questions
about the value of sustainability assessment which
brought a lively discussion about the assessment
of urban farming/food production in land-limited
areas like Singapore. The participants from an
industry background were more concerned about
the requirements of sustainability assessment before
a product/process is generated. Experts in this
area illustrated the current situation of sustainability
assessment versus benefit and also research interest
versus. industry interest. The comparison of ’natural’
food and processed food and science-based guidance
to the public about these issues as well as the issue
of optimised food selection was also debated. There
was also debate about antibiotics and the alternatives
of antibiotics which may bring risk in.

28
NAFTEC
ANNEX III – GMI letter to all Ministries of Health and Agriculture in 183 countries

NTU Food Technology Centre (NAFTEC)
Nanyang Technological University,
62 Nanyang Drive, Block N1.2-B3-27
Singapore 637459
Email: NAFTEC@ntu.edu.sg
NTU Food Technology Centre (NAFTEC)
Nanyang Technological University,
62 Nanyang Drive, Block N1.2-B3-27
Singapore 637459
Email: NAFTEC@ntu.edu.sg

NAFTEC annual report 2017

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