FDBusiness.com

ABP Food Group, the largest beef processor in Ireland and the UK, has been selected as part of a winning pan-European consortium to lead ground breaking food research. The consortium includes fifty partners spanning market-leading businesses, technology innovators, best-in-class research institutions and consumer facing organisations.

The winning consortium was chosen by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) following a competitive selection process and will work to improve food production levels throughout the supply chain. Over the next 7 years, the partners will invest close to €1200 million matched with up to €400 million, financed by EIT. The project, called EIT Food, will set up four innovation programmes to target a number of important societal food challenges, including:

• FoodConnects Assistant: Examining the sphere of personalised healthy food and nutrition. • The Web of Food: Researching the digitalisation of the food system. • Your Farm2Fork: Exploring consumer driven supply chain development and new technology adoption in farming processing and retail. • The Zero Waste Agenda: Focusing on transforming the current linear “produce-use-dispose” food model into a circular bio-economy.

Additionally EIT Food will train thousands of students and food professionals through workshops, summer schools and online educational programmes. The consortium includes a diverse range of companies and research institutions from across Europe, these include Robert Bosch, Siemens, PepsiCo, Nestle, Sodexo, John Deere, Givaudin, Matis, Nielsen, Queens University Belfast, Cambridge University and the University of Reading.

Dean Holroyd, Group Technical and Sustainability Director at ABP Food Group, comments: “We are delighted to be part of this prestigious and ground breaking initiative which will help tackle the many challenges facing the food supply chain. From ABP’s perspective, this is a great opportunity to be partnering with leading global players as we look at ways to improve the sustainable production and processing of beef from farm to fork. We look forward to collaborating with our colleagues in EIT Food with a view to making a lasting and positive impact on European and global food production.”

Peter van Bladeren, Vice President Nestec, Global head Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for Nestlé and Chair of the Interim Supervisory Board of EIT Food, says: “EIT Food is committed to create the future curriculum for students and food professionals as a driving force for innovation and business creation; it will give the food manufacturing sector, which accounts for 44 million jobs in Europe, a unique competitive edge.”

EIT is an independent body set up by the EU in 2008 and modelled on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The organisation has already put in place collaborative research models between business and research institutions in the areas of Climate, Digital, Health and Sustainable Energy.