Over €1m announced in food research funding
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has announced more than €1 million in food research funding.
The initiative will fall under the international strand of DAFM's research programme.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon said: “I am delighted to announce that my department will commit €1.048 million for new food research arising from the first co-funded call of the European Partnership on Future Food Systems.
“Cumulatively, almost €5 million in EU-wide research funding has been secured by these projects.”
Under the European partnership for a sustainable Future of Food Systems – ‘FutureFoodS’ - three transnational research projects with Irish research partners have been selected for funding.
Researchers from University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC), and Teagasc have successfully collaborated with international research organisations in other EU countries in securing EU-wide funding for future food system research.
The FutureFoodS Partnership, funded by Horizon Europe, involves 86 partners from 29 countries - including national and regional authorities, funding agencies, universities, research institutes, foundations, and competitiveness clusters - to mobilise research and innovation in Europe.
The principal aim of the FutureFoodS Partnership is to accelerate the transition from linear food chains towards circular food systems to collectively achieve healthy, safe, environmentally friendly, socially secure, fair, and economically viable food systems for Europe.
‘High quality research’
Minister Heydon said: “Ireland’s participation in European partnerships such as this demonstrates our continued commitment to supporting international, high-quality research that delivers real world benefits for the food industry.”
Minister of State at DAFM with responsibility for research and innovation, Noel Grealish said: “These three European projects across areas including gut health, the food information environment and future food production systems will support innovation in our food industry, in line with our Food Vision 2030 ambitions.
“I commend the Irish researchers involved for their success, particularly those that will lead these international research consortia.”The projects will focus on empowering consumers through policy recommendations and digital solutions, the development of postbiotic fermented foods to improve gut health, and the production of nutrient-rich microalgae to create future food products.
