Nov 28, 2024
After four years of work on developing competitive intermediate food value chain alternatives, the partners of the FAIRCHAIN project held a Final Event on 14 November, in Bruges BE. The Event had two parts which together attracted several dozen participants: a PLENARY Session at the 38th EFFoST (European Federation of Food Science and Technology) International Conference 2024 and a NETWORKING Forum/Tasting Event.
The EFFoST PLENARY Session was led by the FAIRCHAIN coordinator, Geneviève Gésan-Guiziou of INRAE FR. It focused on lessons and achievements from the six Case Studies of the project and speakers also covered co-creation, sustainability assessment, and policy recommendations for establishing intermediate food value chains.
The NETWORKING Forum/Tasting Event encouraged participant engagement with project partners and case study leaders – while attendees sampled food products developed using innovative solutions to improve the sustainability of intermediate food value chains! Attendees enjoyed drinks, feta cheese, blueberry jam, pickles/vinegars, and chocolate raspberry snacks. Videos of each Case Study were released at the event and can be viewed here.
Apr 23, 2024
In this seventh issue, you will find updates from our case studies as well as information about training opportunities, new publications, dissemination and external cooperation activities. Happy reading!
Apr 6, 2024
The final co-creation workshop of the
Austrian case study was held on the 21st of March. In the goal-defining and implementation workshops held in spring 2021, stakeholders from the Styrian fruit and vegetable value chains were invited to participate. Based on the workshop results, a program for the Food Innovation Incubator was defined, and activities within the three incubator modules (1) innovation coaching, (2) knowledge transfer, and (3) networking were executed. During the final co-creation workshop, the conducted activities and results were presented and discussed with the respective stakeholders. This discussion encompassed policy perspectives and options for the continuation of the Food Innovation Incubator beyond the conclusion of FAIRCHAIN. This workshop was organized in collaboration with Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research.
On the demonstration day event, practitioners will be invited to participate in workshops and observe the results of the incubator. The target audience for this event includes farmers, food entrepreneurs, and students. During this event, videos will be recorded and made available, showcasing interviews with stakeholders documenting their experiences collaborating with the Food Innovation Incubator team.
Apr 5, 2024
European fruit chains can increase the value they create from their co-products, like apple pomace or apricot pits. These are underexploited and could be locally valorized according to the full principles of circular economy! In Wallis, south Switzerland, FAIRCHAIN partners are producing vinegar via fermentation of wet co-products like apple pomaces. This vinegar has many promising applications in agronomy and detergency. After making vinegar, the left-over is used to feed mealworms for alternative protein sources, and bio-digested to produce renewable energy and compost.
In parallel, an innovative regional business concept can valorize apricot pits and other woody coproducts using pyrolysis technology to generate three valuable outputs: local renewable heat, biochar-based fertilizer/soil enhancer, and carbon credits contributing to regional climate strategies.
This cascade of fruit co-product valorization has started to generate new regional and circular business models based on the use of apple pomace for vinegar and pits as biochar and renewable heat. These innovations can add value to the business models of at least seven regional organizations, including Biofruits and Cogiterre.
The photos above show some phytosanitary tests on the field and the production of the vinegar from co-products (decantation phase).
Apr 4, 2024
The aim of the French Case Study is to help a medium-sized cheese dairy and its affiliated farmers in Eastern France (Bourgogne Franche-Comté) to find innovative solutions to utilise whey and possibly generate income from it at regional level. Cheese whey, produced in small quantities and in geographically isolated areas, is often disposed of in wastewater treatment plants, sent to biodigesters or fed to animals. The idea of the case study is to offer an innovative way to use cheese whey by producing innovative fermented drinks based on whey and fruit juices, and by marketing and distributing them in returnable and reusable bottles.
During the last months, researchers at INRAE in Rennes and Laboratories Standa developed the drinks. The process was then adapted on a pilot scale and the drinks was produced by Enilbio in Poligny using whey from the Monts et Terroirs cheese dairy in Vevy (belonging to SODIAAL). The development was accompanied by market and consumer research to assess consumer acceptance of these drinks and the deposit system (Actalia Innovation and Petrel), and by environmental and economic assessments (INRAE, DSS+) to guide development choices.
The new drinks come in several flavours: sparkling with elderflower, apple or grape juice, and non-sparkling with apple/apricot or apple/raspberry fruit juice.
On 7 December 2023, the project partners met in Poligny with local stakeholders, representatives of cheese dairies, the Bourgogne France-Comté region, fruit juice producers and breweries. They tasted the drinks and enjoyed them! The progress made since the launch of the project is enormous.
What are the next steps?
What needs to be done now to popularize these innovative whey-based drinks is first consumer studies in real-life situations for a final assessment of acceptance, and then identification of the most appropriate business models. Finally, an environmental, social, and economic assessment of the new value chains for “whey-based drinks in returnable bottles” will be carried out with a focus on medium-term sustainability at regional level.
