Manufacturer input is light in Food for Life research

The problem from a UK perspective is that while there is no shortage of academic input into the programme, the input from smaller food manufacturers and retailers is noticeable by its absence.

The idea behind the ETP, which was started in July 2005, was to come up with a variety of strategically-focused, trans-national research projects in the nutritional, food and consumer sciences, together with food chain management. The goal is to deliver a range of novel and improved food products, which help to address the major emerging consumer issues of health and obesity.

A variety of ideas for projects were discussed at a national consultation meeting in London last month, chaired by professor Roger Fenwick of the UK's Institute of Food Research (IFR), designed to feed into the ETP's Stakeholders' Strategic Research Agenda (SSRA). However, consultant Dr Jon Bell, a former chief executive of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), questioned the absence of priorities for action in view of limited research funds available under the initial phase of the European Commission's Framework Programme 7, which runs from 2007 until 2013. "More cross-linking is missing from the whole document," said Bell. "Not all in here is going to be funded. Some is primary and some secondary in the way it is targeted."

Within the UK, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) already funds around 180 food-related projects to a value of around £55.7M, of which 19% goes to institutions such as the IFR and the Institute for Animal Health, said Professor John Mathers from the Human Nutrition Research Centre at the University of Newcastle, who also sits on the BBSRC's Healthy Nutrition strategy group. In addition, the FSA spends up to £25M on evidence gathering research, said Dr Patrick Miller of the FSA's Research Co-ordination Unit. Increasingly, this work is moving into the area of social science research, he added: "There are a lot of common areas between the ETP and the FSA ... it's not just about doing science, but getting to where we want to be." And then there is other collaborative research, funded under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Link programme, which has environmental sustainability at its core.

The SSRA has been developed by six working groups focusing on scientific and technological requirements in: food and health; food quality and manufacturing; food and consumer; food safety; sustainable food production; and food chain management. Another group is exploring communication, training and technology transfer.

Delegates to last month's consultation meeting agreed that there was much duplication in the draft SSRA document and that some sections - such as the one on managing the food chain - were particularly woolly. Considerable work is required if a meaningful final version is to be produced in April, which should lead to the publication of an implementation plan in December.

Food and consumer affairs consultant Diane McCrea urged those involved to ensure that consumers were central to any research programme selected. "Delivery outputs should be in line with consumer needs and expectations," she said.

For more details email: v.rimbert@ciaa.eu

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