FOCOS is an independent consulting company that provides services in three areas:

• Food Safety
• Business Strategy
• Communication

Our food safety advice services include, for example, analytical, management and regulatory aspects of food allergens, gluten, GMO, animal and plant speciation, food irradiation, food authenticity, food fraud and food integrity. Our technical advice services include food analytical strategies for stakeholders in the food supply chain, including food manufacturers and retailers. We also provide services around laboratory set-up, method certifications and provide support through our long-standing experience and knowledge in the regulatory and scientific environment.

Our business strategy services include the development of strategic roadmaps, technical innovation, portfolio expansion for existing businesses and support for start-ups, including novel analytical technology providers. It also includes technical evaluation for laboratories for merger and acquisition (M&A).

Our third area of expertise is communication. This includes providing training in different formats and compiling and developing training materials tailored to the target audience. We also support the development of technically sound and visually appealing presentation materials for meetings, including PowerPoint presentations and materials for marketing.

Role in TITAN
We lead two food safety pilot studies:

• one of the traceability of autochthonous olive varieties through the supply chain using nanotechnology-based analytics combined with supply chain traceability and
• the mapping and occurrence prediction of food allergens using artificial intelligence (AI) combined with portable analytical technologies which can be deployed by non-scientists.

As such, we will look at validating these approaches and technology combinations for routine deployment in the food supply chain.