The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, is pleased to announce awards of over €1.1m under his Department’s FIRM programme for Irish researchers collaborating in four transnational projects arising from a competitive Call under a European Research Area Network (ERA-Net) on the development of more sustainable food systems from production to consumption.
Four projects with Irish participation are funded under the Era-Net for Sustainable Food Production and Consumption – ‘SUSFOOD2’. This Era-Net complements the EU bioeconomy and food policy development activities and aims to reinforce cooperation in research, development and innovation between EU members and associated States in order to maximize the contribution of research to the development of more sustainable food systems from production to consumption. SUSFOOD2 focusses on sustainability in post-harvest food production, thus covering relevant fields from natural sciences to food engineering and social sciences.
The funded projects address specific topics within the SUSFOOD2 Call. Two projects funded address Innovation in food processing technologies and products. The project BIOCARB-4-FOOD will explore environmentally friendly and efficient extraction techniques for carbohydrates and valorisation of remaining biomass (rich in bioactive compounds), to sequentially obtain novel carbohydrate-based extracts and fibres from already commercialised seaweeds and under-utilised sea grasses.
The project MEFPROC aims to bridge gaps in scientific and technical knowledge currently preventing uptake of Moderate Electric Field (energy efficient, low cost process) and Ultrasound by the food industry providing innovative and sustainable processing solutions for European Food Manufacturers in a host of sectors in achieving microbiologically safe, high quality products.
Another project funded addresses the Provision of added value, increased resource efficiency and reduction of waste in sustainable food systems. ImPrOVE aims to fully valorize pomace (fruit waste) by using a combination of existing and innovative processes to extract and use the natural and highly functional compounds which have potential in high value applications in diets, and as bio-additives in food and beverages.
The remaining project addresses the topic Understanding consumer behaviour and food choices. PLATEFORMS aims to produce in-depth knowledge on how food practices are affected by socio-technical innovations in food provisioning platforms, and communicate success stories of sustainability to platform owners and policy makers and aims to promote sustainable food choices.
These 4 awards involve collaborations between the Irish participants (Teagasc, University College Dublin & University College Cork) and other European partners in order to advance knowledge and innovation in the sustainable production and consumption of food.
These awards reaffirm DAFM’s ongoing commitment to research and innovation in order to meet the sustainability targets set out in Food Wise 2025.
Full details of these awards are set out in here.
Notes for editor
1. The awards arise from a Call for Proposals launched under the European Research Area Network Cofund SUSFOOD2 (Era-Net for SUStainable FOOD production and consumption”) and are funded by one of the Department’s three competitive, research funding programmes, namely the Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM). The beneficiaries will also receive top up funding from the European Commission of approx.. 33%.
2. SUSFOOD2 is the ERA-NET Cofund for Sustainable Food Production and Consumption. The aim of SUSFOOD2 is to reinforce cooperation in research, development and innovation between EU members and associated States in order to maximize the contribution of research to the development of more sustainable food systems from production to consumption.
3. Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM) aims to develop public good technologies that will underpin a competitive, innovative and sustainable food manufacturing and marketing sector. The programme is creating a base of knowledge and expertise in generic technologies that will support a modern, consumer-focused industry and build Ireland's capacity for R&D.
4. DAFM allocates some funding from its three competitive research funding programmes to support national participation in strategically aligned transnational competitive research Calls. Such participation helps leverage expertise and data, and develops skills and networks. The majority of transnational research funding Calls that DAFM supports are undertaken in conjunction with other EU Member States and the EU Commission. Successful projects that arise following a rigorous peer review evaluation process, are made up of research partners from at least three member states with each partner funded by their national funding organization. In most cases, such as in this EraNet Call, the EU Commission also co-funds the projects.