- FOODGUARD is part of the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program and aims to extend, monitor and predict the shelf life of perishable foods through the study and use of microbial materials.
For Djamel Rahmani, leader of CREDA’s participation in the project, “this initiative strives to present new products that can influence purchasing decisions”
February 19, 2024
The Centre for Agri-Food Economics and Development (CREDA) participates in the FOODGUARD project, an initiative promoted by the European Commission within the Horizon Europe research aid program. The project, which began in January 2024, aims to analyse and use the microbiome (a set of microorganisms, genes and environmental conditions that surround them) to achieve a reduction in food loss and waste.
FOODGUARD integrates a set of partner entities that are dedicated to different sectors, to take advantage of the intersectoral multi-actor approach that facilitates professionalism in all work packages. Thus, the objective of the project is to develop solutions that can support innovations and advances based on the microbiome. The tools created will be applied, together with digital technologies, to the entire value chain, in phases such as food processing or packaging.
With this initiative, the European Commission seeks to achieve three main objectives: (1) extend the shelf life of perishable foods such as meat, fish, vegetables, and cheese; (2) implement responsive policies that engage consumers and improve trust in the sector; and (3) allow tracking and predicting food spoilage, providing transparency in supplies.
CREDA’s participation is led by Djamel Rahmani, Doctor in Economic Analysis and Business Strategy and is based on “mapping the expectations of key actors taking into account operations, processing and packaging.” In addition, the team at the Catalan centre must carry out 5.000 surveys of consumers in Europe “to find out their demand for sustainable packaging and for the innovations proposed in the project,” explains Rahmani.
The doctor explains that the final objective of the task is “to identify the challenges of interested parties and improve aspects such as food quality or the transparency of the food chain.” Thus, all the information collected will be used to estimate the socioeconomic effects of the innovations.
For Rahmani, “collaborating on this type of project is a great opportunity, since it not only contributes to the reduction of food waste, but also strives to listen to consumers and present new products that can influence their purchasing decisions,” in this case sustainable packaging.
Currently, the agri-food industry faces several challenges, including: global food supply (food security), and the safety of food suitable for human consumption (food safety). The European Union strives to achieve these objectives, while maintaining production processes within environmental limitations. Thus, the implementation of projects such as FOODGUARD aims to guarantee a healthy, fair and ecological system.
Containers with protective cultures, temporary temperature indicators and smart printed labels are some of the tools that are on the agenda of the new initiative. With their implementation and performance, the group of participating partners seek to increase the quality, safety, and transparency of the activities, enhancing trust and acceptance of their products, while reducing the ecological and carbon footprint.
The FOODGUARD project is led by Smart Agro Hub Anonymi Etairia (Greece) and has a total of 19 partner entities from 11 countries: Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Cyprus . The representation of Spain is distributed between the Asociación de Investigación de Industrias Cárnicas del Principado de Asturias (Oviedo), Mataderos Industriales Soler S.A. (Málaga) and CREDA (Castelldefels).