Food allergies affect over 17M people in Europe and increasing at a 2 digit prevalence rate. With no cure, the only successful method to prevent allergic reactions is to strictly avoid all foods containing the allergen. Hence, to identify these, the consumers rely on an accurate product labelling.The labelling of allergen contents for the industry is however not trivial, it does not only depend on the composition of the product, but also on the possible cross-contamination with allergens from other products. The current lack of standardized food allergen control plans and cost-effective allergen testing tools, drives food manufacturers to adopt over cautious labelling strategies. As a result, 90% of products with ¨may contain¨ allergen labels do not contain any. This reduces the choice of safe food for the allergic population (39.1M people), leading to a risk taking behaviour. SaPher project will disrupt the food allergen assessment market thanks to the development of an allergen assessment procedure supported by the industrialization and commercial deployment of our full automatic SaPher nano-photonics biosensing allergen test platform. SaPher will simultaneously assess up to 6 different allergens in food matrices, reducing turnaround times and cost by over 70% in comparison with current golden standards. To reach market, we will elaborate a standardized risk assessment method (DTU), develop the antibodies of interest not comercially available in the market for the target industries (INGE), industrialize and optimise our technology for mass production (LUME and UPV) and demonstrate both technology and procedure with the meat, dairy and bakery industries (NESTLE) as well as independent laboratories under operational conditions. As a result, we expect SaPher to be adopted by large and medium food producing companies and external laboratories, ensuring products are correctly labelled on allergen contents by performing over 1,1 Million allergen tests in 3 years.

CIRCULAR FoodPack aims to facilitate the circular use of plastic packaging addressing the most sensitive product category: Food packaging. This sector contains 87% of all European flexible plastic-plastic multilayer composites (MLC) due to the high requirements for food preservation and safety. However, these MLC laminates cannot be recycled by state of the art processes and thus counteract the circular use of food packaging. Recycled polymers from far less demanding mono-film waste fractions underperform and cannot be used in food packaging, mostly due to the presence of intentionally and not intentionally added substances. We will demonstrate the project results by production of high-quality recycled PE at TRL 5-6, using Sensor-Based-Specification or Tracer-Based-Sorting (TBS, SBS), deinking and thermally assisted deodorization as well as solvent-based or mechanical recycling processes. Innovative designs of recyclable and food-safe mono-material laminates will enable the re-use in high-value film applications, with upcoming food packaging marking with deinkable tracers. This allows a future circular economy of food packaging, if TBS guarantees a sorting of food grade materials. Product characterization, food contact compliance testing, LCA, LCC and business modelling will support and guide process development, upscale and design new packaging. The approach addresses the scope of the call exactly, since innovative sorting and recycling solutions are applied to novel designs being developed. That enables the re-use in the same high-value product sector by removing undesirable substances from secondary raw materials. Addressing the annual 2 Mio tonnes of European MLC food packaging, which currently hamper the recycling of 17.8 Mio tonnes of food packaging waste, the expected impact on flexible packaging and food sector is substantial. An interdisciplinary team of 4 RTOs and 10 industrial partners (5 SMEs) will finally implement the new circular economy approach.

The PEFerence project will establish a globally first-of-a-kind, industrial scale (50 000 tonnes/year), cost-effective FDCA (diacid) biorefinery flagship plant producing bio-based chemicals and materials (bottles, films, Lego Bricks, polyurethanes) using also existing facilities in industrial symbiosis. The consortium aims to replace a significant part of fossil based polyesters (such as PET), but also technologically superior packaging materials like glass and aluminum with 100 % bio-based polyesters (such as PEF). The unique properties of PEF (excellent barrier and strength) make it a material that can be applied in areas where PET is less suitable. The initial market focus will be on high value applications such as replacement of multilayer packaging, aluminum cans and small size PET bottles where PEF brings most value. On the longer term, when FDCA is produced at large scale and technology is further matured, FDCA based polyesters are expected to penetrate further into markets which allow smaller or no price premium. The potential significant reductions in non-renewable energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil based PET or aluminum based cans for PEF based packaging solutions will be assessed. Furthermore, PEF bottles can be recycled and used again as raw material for bottles, as well as in a cascading approach for packaging and textiles. During the project, fructose produced via an enzymatic isomerisation process from 2nd generation glucose will be assessed. The full value chain will be optimized ensuring cost-effective and environmentally sustainable raw material sourcing and production of FDCA, PEF/PBF and polyurethane products. Finally, together with customers and brand owners (Lego, Nestle), 100% bio-based end-products will be demonstrated and validated to ensure fast market deployment.

In order to reduce GHG-emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared with 1990 levels and incresease carbon sequestration and storage a strong systemic approach is required. Different single solutions exist for different production systems, but if one wants to break the glass ceiling new organisational, technical and financial solutions are requested. These solution have to be supported by voluntarist policies. ClieNFarms is based on 20 demonstration case-studies (I3S) where systemic innovative solutions will be tested and evaluated using up-to-date modeling approaches and multicriteria assessment tools. These case-studies will pave the diversity of the production systems (crops, cattle, dairy, special crop productions, etc) and the diversity of geographical situations (from East to West and North to South of Europe, plus one in New-Zealand). The solutions will be co-designed with farmers and the surrounding ecosystem (R&D, finance, supply chain, etc) through creative arena in a living-lab like structure. Involving finance and supply chain will help creating an enabling environment for farmers transition to climate-neutral farms. I3S structure aims to allow for 1 demonstration farm to reach 10 lead commercial farms and then 100 outreach farms. With the help of the supply a much larger number of farmers will be reached. All the solutions will be recorded in the ClieNFarms data hub that will be an open catalog for every one interested in climate mitigation in the agricultural sector. Different guidelines and tools will be part of the outputs of the projects. A large dissemination of the results project will be made through professional newspapers, scientific articles, social networks, etc. ClieNFarms will also develop bricks for capacity building allowing to show in a short sequence pros and cons of the different solutions and tools. ClieNFarms will create a dialog with other on-going project and with the EC. ClieNFarms gather 33 partners and will last 4 years.

The PATHSENSE (Pathogen Sensing) ETN will bring together an interdisciplinary team of world-leading researchers from Europe to tackle a highly ambitious scientific project, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of sensory perception in bacterial pathogens. PATHSENSE will establish an innovative doctoral training programme that will deliver 13 PhD graduates and high-impact scientific outputs. The relationship between molecular structures and biological function is central to understanding any living system; however the research methodologies required to unravel these relationships are often complex and fast-changing. The team participating in this Network has the infrastructure and track-record to train ESRs in these state-of-the art methodologies, including structural biology, proteomics & protein biochemistry, molecular biology, bacterial genetics, food microbiology, mathematical modelling, cell biology, microscopy and comparative genomics. PATHSENSE will investigate the poorly understood structure-function relationships that exist within a large multi-protein complex called a “stressosome”, which acts as a sensory organelle in bacteria. The project will involve extensive inter-sectoral mobility of the ESRs across 7 EU countries to make full use of the complementary skills available at each of the hosting institutions. The inter-sectoral Network comprises 8 leading Universities, 1 public research institution, 4 companies (from spin-off to large multi-national) and 1 governmental agency. A major objective of this Network will be to exploit the fundamental research to develop novel antimicrobial treatments that have applications in the food and public health sectors. This project will deliver high-impact science, 13 highly-trained innovative researchers and will produce a long-lasting inter-sectoral network of collaborators who will continue to work together to exploit fundamental research for the socio-economic benefit of Europe.