Istraživanja i projekti

 

HAMTRACE project launches to protect Europe’s premium dry-cured hams through smart, fraud-resistant traceability. University of Donja Gorica is proud to be a part of this is new project under the Horizon Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme. 

 

The project officially began on 1 January 2026 and is coordinated by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). The full name of this EU-funded research project is Advancing European Dry-Cured Ham Value Chains with Data-Driven Authentication and Global Traceability Standards, The project has has officially launched, bringing together leading universities, research infrastructures, industry associations, SMEs and digital innovation experts to combat food fraud and strengthen trust in Europe’s premium dry-cured ham sector. 

 

Europe’s dry-cured ham sector—home to iconic products such as PDO and PGI-certified hams—faces increasing pressure from food fraud, mislabelling and insufficient supply-chain transparency. Current traceability systems rely largely on labels and QR codes, which can be copied or manipulated and offer limited protection against sophisticated fraud. At the same time, small and medium-sized producers often lack access to advanced authentication tools, putting their market position and consumer trust at risk.

 

HAMTRACE addresses these challenges by developing an interoperable, privacy-preserving and regulation-compliant traceability framework that integrates analytical chemistry, artificial intelligence, blockchain technologies and smart tags. By combining elemental and isotopic fingerprinting with AI-driven imaging techniques and tamper-proof digital records, HAMTRACE will enable authentication of product origin, curing time and regional specificity—linking physical products with secure digital identities.