Feb 27, 2024
The FoodFactory-4-Us international student competition has started! Eight teams have been selected and are currently working on projects around the topic ‘Upscale or downscale a food supply chain to a national or regional level‘.
The competing teams are developing the following projects:
- Barley Bakes – Curation and development of a barley brownie to meet the nutritional needs of 2-15 year olds
- Apple Link – From private gardens to good use – or better yet, juice!
- Dabagira – Production of composite flour of selected food as a way of improving food supply chain that result the reduction of malnutrition and stunting
- SLSU-Pud Tek – Scaling Up Halang-halang processing in Southern Leyte, Philippines
- PAFT de SLSYou – Upscaling of Hilongos’ Native Kakanin: Preserving Tradition in Modern Times
- Baker team – Cookies and pastries for special dietary uses made with resistant starch as an ideal fiber source
- HighFig – Overcoming the Distribution Maze: A Roadmap to Tackle Logistics Challenges in Bursa Black Fig Distribution
Visit the competition website to get the detailed activity calendar and view session recordings.
Feb 8, 2024
This week, FAIRCHAIN participated in the Innovations in Agri-Food workshop organised by the CO-FRESH and FOODRUS projects in Nitra, Slovakia.
Hartmut Derler (FH JOANNEUM) shared the findings of the Food Innovation Incubator case study with presentations on ‘Consulting, networking and prototyping of products, processes and technologies’ and ‘Collaboration with practice: Findings from the project FAIRCHAIN.’
Dec 20, 2023
The French case study aims to offer an alternative way of valorizing cheese whey – by producing a fermented drink. This will improve the competitiveness of small cheese dairies, who produce whey in small quantities and in geographically isolated areas, and often send their whey to wastewater treatment plants, biodigest it, or feed it to animals.
An “early-design making approach” maximised consumer acceptance by conducting market and consumer studies (Actalia Innovation, Petrel, in collaboration with J’aime mes bouteilles) in the developmental stage of the project. These defined and prioritised beverage concepts, including distribution mode. Additional studies evaluated environmental and economic impact (INRAE-Palaiseau; INRAE-Rennes).
After 2 years of work, the first innovative fermented drinks based on whey and fruit (or vegetable) juices are ready! They were developed by INRAE-Rennes and Laboratoires Standa, produced by Enilbio in Poligny in collaboration with Sodiaal, using whey from the Monts et Terroirs cheese dairy in Vevy. The process was adapted on a pilot scale and the drinks will be distributed in returnable and reusable bottles. This drink is perfect for an adult aperitif or a child’s snack at any time of the day!
This new drink comes in several varieties: sparkling with elderflower, apple or grape juices, and non-sparkling with apple/ apricot or apple/raspberry fruit juices. All drinks were tasted by about 60 people in a study by Actalia Sensoriel laboratory in Bourg en Bresse and two stood out as favourites: the elderflower, 77%, and the apple-raspberry, 69%. The drinks were also tasted by FAIRCHAIN partners on 7 December 2023 at a project meeting in Poligny and were thoroughly enjoyed!
The next steps in popularizing these innovative whey-based drinks are consumer studies in real-life situations for a final assessment of acceptance, and identification of the most appropriate business model(s). Environmental, social and economic assessment of the new “whey-based drinks in returnable bottles” value chain will be carried out with a focus on mid-term sustainability at a regional level.
Dec 5, 2023
On 26 October, FAIRCHAIN and four other projects funded on the RUR 06 2020 and RUR 07 2020 calls – PLOUTOS, LOWINFOOD, CO-FRESH, FOODRUS – held a workshop in Brussels in the presence of EC project officers to discuss best practices in cooperation that can be useful to other research projects. These include common tools and processes for information sharing, thematic working groups and joint dissemination actions. A report summarising the main taking from the event is available.
Nov 13, 2023
The FAIRCHAIN project was presented along with other EU-funded projects related to circular economy at a joint stand within Ecomondo – the reference international event in Europe and the Mediterranean basin for technologies, services and industrial solutions in the green and circular economy sectors – which took place in Rimini, Italy on 7-10 November 2023.
