Tasting Food for Science

Innovation in the food industry has been positioned as a societal challenge with high potential for sustainable competitiveness and growth. Particularly, with increasing productivity in order to meet the demands of a growing population, but also with making the market more financially viable and attractive to the growth of new food businesses.

Food businesses introduce the application of novel, mild and sustainable food technologies. The future success of these new food technologies depends on much more than simply the science behind them. Consumer perceptions are the most important thing when it comes to food and nutrition. If consumers are not willing to buy the food, there is no point in producing it.

SUIT4FOOD participated in this year’s Science in the City (Malta) where more than 100 people visited their stand to taste dif- ferent foods treated with alternative food technologies. These food products were kindly provided by one of the project part- ners, CRETA Farms (Greece).

SUIT4FOOD was set up to bring together teaching and industrial staff who are cur- rently working on different aspects of food technologies, food safety, kinetic modelling, harmonisation of global food safety regulations and legislation, public engagement for food technology uptake, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship development. One of the key benefits the SUIT4FOOD projects aims to achieve, is to train post-graduate students on alternative food processes resulting in higher product quality and longer shelf-life, fewer lost sales, reduction in costs due to lower water and energy demands and consequently sustainable intensification.

SUIT4FOOD (Sustainable Intervention Technologies for controlling food Safety and Stability) is a University of Malta project funded by ERASMUS+ Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships of the European Union. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.