Meat and seafood products are highly perishable foodstuffs, the preservation of which is crucial. Indeed, a bad preservation of these products may lead to important hygienic and safety risks as well as considerable economic loss, a situation that is particularly true for novel products. The utilisation of protective cultures in order to limit these risks is proposed since several years but is still not in common use, partially because a lack of knowledge of microbial ecosystems of these products. The partners of the French network FLOREPRO decided to share their know-how and scientific knowledge on one hand, and their various expertise about food on the other hand, in order to increase the knowledge of meat and seafood products and on the impact of protective cultures on these ecosystems and on the quality of the products. Our aim is thus to provide a sound scientific based information on the benefit that the utilisation of protective cultures may represent in the production of meat/fish foodstuffs. The project is divided into three tasks: - an as exhaustive as possible characterisation of the ecosystem of height selected products (meat and seafood) by the up to date most performing method, 16S rDNA pyrosequencing of the bacterial DNA present on these products, at the time of production and after the use by date. This task also encompasses the selection of putative spoiler micro-organisms from those products; - set up and sharing of model matrices and sensory analysis in order to reproduce spoilage and to prove the spoiling properties of the strains selected from the first task; - evaluation of the impact of already available protective cultures on spoilage, sensorial quality, and global ecosystem of the products we propose to study. The partners of this project are academics, agro institutes and one SME which was a pioneer in the commercialisation of protective cultures. Other industries, SMEs with no financial support, joined the project to furnish the foodstuffs to be analysed. Know-how, expertise and missions of the partners are complementary and about meat/fish products. The foodstuffs we selected are representative of a large panel of origins (beef, veal, poultry, fish, shellfish) and processes (ground, diced cubes, fillets, peeled) and concern novel products for which knowledge about their ecosystem and sanitary quality is scarce.

The project « Genotoxicity, IMmunotoxicité and rEprotoxicity of PEsticides in Crassostrea gigas » (GIMEPEC) aims to study the rule of chemical contamination of coastal waters in oyster mortality outbreaks observed these last years in France. The previous results obtained within the MOREST project and the in-situ detection of high concentrations in pesticides during oyster gametogenesis, justify the need to focus our study on the toxic effects of pesticides in this commercially important bivalves. From the results obtained by the analysis of two historical series of data concerning (1) harnessing, reproduction and survival of oyster larvae (Rémora networks) and (2) the level of genomic abnormalities in natural naissain, the GIMEPEC project propose a genetic basement to explain a loss of oyster resistance in physiological and environmental stress. Damage to oyster genome could result from a genotoxic impact following pesticide exposure. This damage (structural DNA lesions, irreversible chromosomal lesions) could be responsible for a decrease in oyster fitness in terms of physiological performances (growth, survival, immunity and reproduction). Because it can be excluded that effects could be transmitted from one generation to another, the trans-generationnal effects of pesticides will be particularly explored. To achieve its research program, the GIMEPEC project is based on pluridisciplinary skills in ecotoxicology, cytogenetics, physiology, immuno-pathology, conchyliculture and environmental chemistry. The project is made of two different complementary approaches: an experimental approach and a field approach. During the experimental approach realised in the experimental hatchery of Ifremer, oysters will be exposed to both glyphosate and one of its commercial formulation, roundup, during the gametogenesis process in order to study their genotoxic effects and their possible vertical transmission to the descent. Another set of experiments will be realised by exposing oysters during the embryo-larval stage of development, known to be sensitive to genotoxicant exposure. During these experiments, structural and functional alterations to the genome will be studied thanks to the application of cytogenetic techniques and genotoxicity tests, and by a transcriptomic study (DGE approach). The biotransformation of the selected herbicides will be also studied by the measurement at molecular and biochemical level of markers of phase II and III of the biotransformation process and of antioxidant defences. Different biological markers will be also measured in order to study the potential embryotoxic, immunotoxic (expression levels of maker genes of immunocompetence, detection of immunopathological lesions, cellular alterations of immunocompetence) and reprotoxic (histological analysis, esterification of sexual steroids) effects of glyphosate and roundup. These experimental experiments will be completed by a field approach in order to study the effects of environmental conditions on the development, growth and physiological performances (immunity, survival, reproduction) of naissains from early and late spawning. This field study will be realised at the site of Fouras (Marennes Oléron). At this site, the level of chemical contamination in metals, organic pollutants (HAP, PBDE, PCB) and pesticides (multi-residue analysis, glyphosate and AMPA titration) will be determined in different matrix of which the oyster. During the field study, the prevalency in pathogenic microorganims will also be determined. Results obtained within the GIMEPEC project will provide a better knowledge of the toxicity of some herbicides in oyster. They will contribute to a better understanding of the oyster mortality outbreaks.