FP4H (2015)
Food Processing for Health
In 2015 the JPI HDHL launched the Joint Action: Food Processing for Health. The funded projects LONGLIFE and ProHealth ran for 3 years from March 2016 to March 2019.
Background
Food processing – whether on industrial scale or in household dimension – affects the composition and structure of a food and in turn the digestion in the gastrointestinal tract and the delivery of its constituents to the human body.
Consumer demands drive diversification in particular for food products (land and marine based) with health benefits. However, different consumer groups have different dietary needs and in particular in the elderly not only food intake (desire to eat, chewing, swallowing) is often impaired but also digestion and absorption of nutrients and bioactives. With a rapidly growing population of elderly this is an increasingly important problem. The development of innovative food products that better suit diverse consumer needs with improved organoleptic and health promoting qualities requires more knowledge on the impact of processing on fate and function of food constituents.
Aim of the call
The main objective of the Joint Action “Food Processing for Health” was to support multidisciplinary transnational research consortia with innovative and scientific approaches to address the following:
- Mechanistic research on the preservation and/or the enhancement of health promoting properties of food as a result of food processing
- Food processing for matrix stability and controlled digestibility, bioavailability, bio-accessibility and bioactivity of food compounds
- Food structures for appropriate bioavailability of nutrients and bioactives
- - Optimize food processing for quality and safety
The following perspectives were indicated in the call text to take into account in the project proposals: Research could relate to products aimed at particular life stages or consumer groups, and may have included investigation of fate in the human body and employed model foods. Capacity building was encouraged (PhD/postdoc research and research mobility).
Participating countries
| Country | Funding organisations |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Flanders) * | Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT) |
| Germany | Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) represented by Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) |
| Ireland | Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) |
| Italy | Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (MiPAAF) |
| The Netherlands | ZonMw |
| Norway | The Research Council of Norway |
| Poland | The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) |
| Romania | National Agency for Scientific Research and Innovation |
* Did not fund research projects in this call
Funded projects
| Project | Coordinator |
|---|---|
| LONGLIFE | Prof. Catherine Stanton, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ireland |
| ProHealth | Prof. Turid Rustad, NTNU, Norway |
More Information
Research FrameworkContact call Secretariat: DAFM (Ireland), JPIHDHL@agriculture.gov.ie
