Food production significantly contributes climate change. In addition, one-third of the food is wasted or lost. Up4Food addresses this issue by focusing on side streams from large food value chains in Europe: the potato industry, seed oil production, and the pelagic fishing industry. Together with project partners from Ireland, France, Romania, Poland, and Norway, we are building knowledge to increase the utilization of these side streams through a holistic approach, collaborating with food stakeholders and consumers to develop new food concepts, technological solutions, and sustainability analyses tailored to these side streams. Through collaboration with food actors, we have gained insight into the factors that enable and hinder better utilization of side streams.
In Up4Food, we have now extracted ingredients from these side streams and are working to stabilize and integrate them into food models. We are investigating aspects related to technology, nutrition, food safety, and sustainability. Through engagement with consumers, we will gain insight into their perceptions and acceptance of new ingredients in the food industry.
To disseminate knowledge, Up4Food will apply new methods and visualization tools in collaboration and communication with food stakeholders and consumers. Up4Food will facilitate new opportunities for the food industry, promote the development of healthy and sustainable food products and concepts in the European market, and thereby have a positive impact on consumers in Europe.
Up4Food will help food actors and research communities in Europe participate in future projects related to food security and better resource utilization. Ultimately, Up4Food will provide food industry stakeholders and consumers with the tools and attitudes needed to meet the changes required for a more sustainable future.
Up4Food will build knowledge to improve food resource utilization by using a system approach to upcycle processing side-streams from three selected value chains in Europe (potatoes, oil seeds and pelagic fish). The project consortium comprises researchers with different expertise from 5 countries and will co-create with stakeholders in the food system and citizens to design new value chains and food concepts and make toolboxes on technological solutions, sustainability and life cycle assessments fit for upcycling of side-streams and co-creation methodology. Up4Food will use green novel technologies to extract and refine nutritive and functional ingredients from the side-streams and investigate technological, nutritional and safety aspects of implementing these ingredients into different food concepts. Up4Food will gain increased insight on barriers and possibilities and reflectively increase the applicability of novel ingredients in the food industry. Through engagement of end users Up4Food will obtain consumer insight on perceptions and acceptability. All ingredients and food concepts will be developed with emphasis on sustainability aspects and evaluated by life cycle assessments and material flow analyses. Further, this building of knowledge needs an innovative approach using innovation methodology and visualisation tools in the multi-actor co-creation and communication. Up4Food aims to enable new opportunities for food actors for further development of a wider range of healthy and sustainable food products and concepts in the European market and positively impact health of Europeans. Up4Food will make European food actors and researchers more qualified to initiate and engage in complex food system projects aiming to solve future food security by improved resource utilization. Ultimately, Up4Food will contributing to equip food actors and citizens the necessary tools and attitudes to meet the necessary dietary shift.
