Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Excellent Science II “Current parasitological hazards in food” September 1, 2023 – August 31, 2025

Project Leader: Ewa Bilska-Zając, DVM, PhD, DSc

Funding: PLN 418,000.00

Project Description: The proposed project concerns the organization of an international scientific conference titled “Current parasitological hazards in food.” The applicant and organizer of the event will be the Department of Parasitology and Invasive Diseases, National Veterinary Research Institute – National Research Institute (PIWet-PIB) in Puławy. The planned conference, like previous ones, will be international in scope. Scientists from foreign institutions, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Istituto Superiore di Sanita (EURL), University of Pisa, University of Torino, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, University of Belgrade, as well as other foreign and domestic centers, are planned to be invited to deliver lectures at the event. The planned seventh international parasitological conference “Current parasitological hazards in food” aims to disseminate the latest scientific research results in the field of food-related parasitological hazards. Within this broad thematic scope, lectures are planned to discuss issues related to, among others, the diagnosis of parasitic zoonoses, the epidemiology of parasites responsible for causing zoonoses, the impact of climate change on the geographical distribution of individual parasites, epidemiological investigations, as well as schemes for eliminating parasites from the food chain and current possibilities for treating parasitoses. The conference program will consist of lecture panels divided into thematic sessions, discussion panels, and a poster session. The preliminary framework program includes three conference days. The organizer anticipates 8-12 lectures presented by foreign speakers, approximately 12 papers by domestic scientists, and about 20 poster presentations. The program will be enriched with scientific workshops, during which the latest technical achievements in the field of laboratory diagnosis of parasitic invasions will be presented, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in microscopic evaluation of preparations, presentation of a multimedia panel for proficiency testing in trichinellosis, and the Trich-tracker molecular technology developed jointly with the USA for conducting epidemiological investigations. Lecture sessions will be conducted using modern audio-visual technical means. Due to the international nature of the conference, simultaneous translation of lectures from English to Polish (and vice versa) is planned. The main goal of the “Current parasitological hazards in food” conference is to transfer innovative achievements and parasitological knowledge to a wide audience interested in the proposed topics from Poland and abroad. The international scope of the conference ensures a broad impact of the proposed project on expanding the state of scientific knowledge. The planned outcomes of the conference include updating parasitological knowledge, exchanging views and experiences, and familiarizing participants with the possibility of applying new solutions in parasitological research and food safety. Another planned outcome will be establishing cooperation with scientists from other research centers, which will provide opportunities to generate new research results and obtain international projects in the future. Furthermore, an international working group of scientists is planned to be established to create a genetic data bank concerning parasites with zoonotic potential, which will serve as a basis for interdisciplinary scientific research and – what is particularly important for practitioners – a foundation for conducting epidemiological investigations.