infrastructure

METROFOOD-IT combines a Physical-RI (P-RI) and an e-infrastructure (e-RI) for open data deposition and access. The P-RI coordinates and integrates an existing networks of state-of-the-art facilities including: in the “Metro” side, laboratories for the full chemical, physical-chemical and microbiological characterization of foods and any matrix of interest in relation to the agrifood (e.g., environmental matrices from the agroecosystem of production, feeds, food contact materials, etc.), and plants for Reference Material (RM) development and production; in the “Food” side, experimental fields/farms for crop production and animal breeding, small-scale plants for food processing and storage, kitchen-labs for food preparation, and “demo” sites for direct stakeholder engagement and to run Living Labs. The e-RI consists of a service-oriented electronic architecture providing an accessible platform for sharing and integrating data, knowledge, and information on metrological tools for food analysis and for facilitating the availability and use of agrifood data to the user community. The e-RI will collect, integrate, make open and interoperable the P-RI results, organising and complementing them with existing data and providing tools for various uses of the data, even promoting their interoperability and the integration with data arising from other existing networks and infrastructures.

In line with the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles, the infrastructure provides distributed services (qui poi potremmo mettere il link alla sezione sui servizi?), acting on the real plan of measurement reliability and procedure harmonisation and adopting the FAIR approach on data management and digital services in support to the agrifood. METROFOOD-IT will strengthen scientific knowledge, promoting cooperation and encouraging the interaction between the various stakeholders, as well as the creation of a common and shared base of data, information, and knowledge. The broad multi- and inter-disciplinary approach with different application fields represents a high added value.