Embrapa Food Technology (Rio de Janeiro, RJ) is now a member of INFOGEST, an international network of institutes that conducts multidisciplinary basic research about food digestion. The experimental models internationally validated by over 300 researchers from 40 countries will be used in projects related to food safety and quality. The accreditation took place in July 2019 upon an invitation from the INFOGEST network coordinator and has been consolidated through staff training events. Between August 12 and August 16, a capacity-building event for the members of the Bioaccessilibity and Biochemical labs was held. The 40h training session was taught by Luíza Osório, a newly-graduated PhD from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)'s Postgraduate Program in Food Science, advised by the researchers Lourdes Cabral and Caroline Mellinger, who spent her doctoral internship at INRA's labs in France, where the method was developed. The course was divided into three parts: measuring digestive enzyme activity, preparing solutions for lab experiments, and implementing the method. “Since she experienced it first-hand, the instructor could present each stage in detail, clarify several doubst and especially teach us the "tricks of the trade", which are not always clear in papers”, reports Flávia Gomes, responsible for Embrapa Food Technology's Bioaccessibility Laboratory, who participated in the training. On October 7 - 11, the researcher Karina Olbrich, from the Bioaccessibility Laboratory's team, is going to participate in the "INFOGEST Training School", a theoretical-practical event that will take place at Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Alimentación (CIAL), where she currently conducts research as Embrapa's Visiting Scientist. Dr. Isidra Recio, a researcher at CIAL's Department of Bioactivity and Food Analysis, will coordinate the training focused on the use of INFOGEST's models of static and semi-dynamic in vitro digestion. The presence of 25 researchers from different, mostly European institutions has been confirmed. By integrating the INFOGEST international network, Embrapa will more actively participate in congresses, capacity-building events, interlaboratory tests and literature reviews, in order to contribute to advances in the method. Since its establishment in 2011, INFOGEST has promoted the harmonization of the digestion models currently in use. “Many answers about nutrition, functionality and food safety can be obtained by applying in vitro digestion models, dispensing with in vivo tests, which are far more expensive”, asserts Caroline Mellinger, responsible for the Biochemistry Laboratory. Current regulation from the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) on functional allegations in food labeling requires in vivo tests (with animal and human guinea pigs) to corroborate claims of health benefits. “We can become an international reference in the area and prove the correlations between in vitro and in vivo tests, in order to simplify national legislation, for instance”, Caroline states. Translation: Mariana Medeiros