Lowinfood: 12 countries, 27 partners, 1 vision
Horizon 2020 is a research and innovation funding program driven by the EU. With a wide range of funding and support measures, Horizon 2020 covers the entire innovation chain and strives for sustainable change in society and the economy by developing new solutions and technologies.
The framework of the program is an important tool for implementing strategies among different European research areas. Innovative products, services, and processes strive to build a competitive economy in Europe to generate more growth and create jobs.
Only about 6% of the submitted applications are approved each year. It is therefore a great success that the European Commission approved the Lowinfood project with LEROMA and 26 other players in July this year.
Our participation in this project places us on an interdisciplinary board with the mission to reduce food waste along the value chain with the project name LOWINFOOD.
Lowinfood
It is estimated that 88 million tonnes of food are wasted and destroyed in Europe every year. This corresponds to around 20% of the food produced in this region.
Whether spoiled, dried up, and moldy or not even landed on our table: The waste and loss of food take place along the entire value chain and the beginning of the chain, which LEROMA also focuses on, is a clearly visible source of the fire. Although this has not been a new topic for a long time, the food industry still needs innovative solutions to counteract the problem.
Lowinfood brings together 27 partners from twelve countries under the direction of the University of Tuscia. In 4.5 years starting from December 2, 2020, all participants will test and demonstrate how to reduce food waste with the help of existing prototypes.
LEROMA, together with ten practice partners, defines innovative solutions that are used for the project. We are actively contributing in the form of our Surplus Exchange at the beginning of the value chain. This provides the food industry with a marketplace for the remaining stock of raw materials. Huge amounts of raw materials are being disposed of every day, before a production process, after harvesting or/ and after a long storage period, sometimes before the best before the date!
Suppliers of these residual items can be raw material manufacturers, traders, or food producers. Each of them knows the problem well. Mispurchases and leftover raw materials from food processing projects can often no longer be processed within the company on time. Minimum purchase quantities or loss of customers, specifications that are not met, or deviating technical criteria generate slow-moving goods. At the latest at the end of the best-before date, the remaining items must be disposed of because they may no longer be used for production. There are additional costs for their storage and disposal. Additional costs arise for their storage and disposal. In most cases, the purchasing department knows in advance which raw materials will not be included in the production process and that the best-before date will soon expire. Here it would be meaningful to plan ahead and advertise these raw materials on LEROMA’s surplus exchange in order to find new potential buyers for these stocks. Our goal is to give valuable resources a second chance.
In the course of its pronounced innovation orientation, Horizon 2020 lays great emphasis on how the results of projects are used. At the end of the project, Lowinfood would like to publish a study that will be available free of charge to the industry and all interested groups. LEROMA also wants to go beyond theory and create a best practice for avoiding food waste, which should later offer added value for the whole of Europe.
With Lowinfood, LEROMA has reached a great milestone. From today on and the next 4,5 years, we will work closely with a high-profile network to jointly take action against food waste along the entire value chain. We are very happy to take on this new challenge with strong partners. News about this project and the whole consortium can be found here:
lowinfood.eu
Let’s simplify the future of change!
This project has received funding from the [European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme][Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018] under grant agreement No [101000439].
