UCBM coordinates CUSTOMICS, the European project for safer seed controls

Making seed controls at European borders faster, more reliable and safer, combating fraud and counterfeiting and strengthening phytosanitary surveillance. This is the objective of CUSTOMICS, European project coordinated byUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and funded by the European Union with almost three million euros, whose kick-off took place on September 17th and 18th at UCBM.

The three-year project brings together customs authorities, universities, research centres and businesses from four European countries and is born from the synergy between the Faculty of Science and Biotechnology and Engineering di UCBM.

Guests at the round table include Maurizio Martina, Deputy Director-General of FAO; Paola Giovannini Pasti, president of Confagricoltura Donna; Antonio Villarroel López de la Garma, general manager of ANOVE; Antonio Vaccaro, IESE Business School – University of Navarra; Walter Sanseverino, CEO of Sequencia; Montserrat García-Moncó Fuente, Head of the Legal & Governance Affairs Unit of the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO); Salvatore Gaglione, Commercial Director of Enza Zaden Italia; and Gianplacido Di Rosa, senior breeder of the same company.

For UCBM participate in the project Vittoria Locato, Marta Giovanetti, Laura De Gara, Eugenio Benvenuto, Sara Cimini e Gianfranco Pannella for the Faculty of Science and Biotechnology, and Gabriele Oliva e Luca Faramondi for the Faculty of Engineering.

CUSTOMICS will develop and test an integrated platform that combines genomics, metagenomics, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity systems into a single operational workflow. The project will start from tomato seeds, a crop with high economic and commercial value, to develop a model that can subsequently be extended to other plant species. Counterfeit or illegally traded seeds can harm producers and the market, compromise the traceability of varieties, and increase the risk of introducing and spreading unwanted organisms.

CUSTOMICS therefore aims to transform customs control from a predominantly documentary process to a system supported by biological, digital and predictive dataA multidisciplinary approach and One Health, which integrates skills in plant biology, microbiology, genomics, bioinformatics, automation, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

"CUSTOMICS adopts a “One Health” approach, recognizing that plant health, environmental health, food safety and public health are closely interconnected.. – said the professor Vittoria Locato, president of the course of studies in Food Science and Human Nutrition UCBM Preventing harmful pathogens and fraudulent seed material from entering the EU helps protect agricultural production and biodiversity, while reducing risks to food systems and strengthening consumer confidence. For years, as UCBM We work in the field of plant biotechnology, seeking solutions to address global issues such as plant resilience to climate change, promoting biodiversity, and food security. Today, thanks to a truly multidisciplinary approach, we can develop advanced methodological tools to protect the agricultural supply chain and safeguard against phytosanitary threats.".

The platform will integrate next-generation sequencing (NGS), portable genomic technologies, metagenomic analyses, artificial intelligence algorithms, and secure digital infrastructures.

The goal is to provide operators with tools capable of supporting, within timeframes compatible with border control requirements, the verification of varietal identity and seed traceability and the characterization of any associated microorganisms, including potential phytopathogenic agents.

"With portable sequencing and metagenomics, we can transform a semen sample into useful information in hours, not days. The goal of CUSTOMICS is to bring genomics out of the laboratory and make it a practical tool for surveillance and prevention at the border.." – he says Marta Giovanetti, professor of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma.

The data produced by the researchers' analyses UCBM will flow into one shared digital platform between customs authorities, phytosanitary authorities, and other entities involved in controls. Artificial intelligence algorithms will correlate genomic results with commercial information and previously documented cases of fraud in European countries, to identify recurring anomalies, such as suspicious suppliers, routes, and batches, and assign a risk level to each shipment to guide controls.

UCBM leads the development of the Prototype of a European database for reporting and managing fraud and the infrastructure that guarantees its security, integrity and traceability.

"At customs, the challenge isn't just analyzing a sample, but quickly deciding which batch is worth checking. Artificial intelligence serves precisely this purpose: it learns from confirmed cases of fraud and cross-references them with genomic and commercial data, identifying anomalies, and suggesting a justified and verifiable priority for inspection to the inspector. For an algorithm to withstand the rigors of an enforcement procedure, however, the data it processes must be intact, protected, and traceable: this is the least visible part of the work, and it's what makes everything else usable.." – he adds Gabriele Oliva, associate professor of the degree course in Intelligent Systems Engineering.

The global circulation of goods and the effects of climate change are altering the landscape of phytosanitary risks and making it increasingly important to have tools capable of rapidly recognizing anomalies, contamination, and potential threats along the supply chain.

Protecting the entry and circulation of seeds therefore means contributing to the protection of agricultural production, biodiversity and supply chain safety.

"Made in Italy agri-food products, recognized and appreciated worldwide for their high standards of reliability, originate from an element as small as it is precious: the seed. An element with its own history that must be preserved. chiara and accessible, to safeguard food quality and safety. Seed traceability certainly represents a safeguard for consumers, but also for producers, who need to know the raw materials they're working with. Furthermore, their quality guarantees equal quality to production, as well as resilience to adversity. In this regard, new genomic techniques can accelerate the selection of increasingly high-performance varieties, boosting the competitiveness of agricultural businesses. Confagricoltura has always considered science and research to be essential allies, and therefore, in this area too, it favors genomic seed identification and pathogen screening tools that can be used in customs controls. We are on the front lines, alongside our farmers, collaborating with all operators involved in the supply chain, to ensure legal and traceable seeds." – says Dr. Paola Giovannini Pasti, President of Confagricoltura Donna.

During the three-year project, the workflow developed on tomato seeds will be validated under operational conditions and evaluated in terms of speed, scalability, reliability and transferability.

The ambition is to build a replicable model for other crops and help strengthen the European Union's capacity to prevent and manage biological and economic threats related to the seed trade.