The project consists of a diverse consortium with 19 partner institutions from 13 countries comprising breeders, farmers, food ingredient producers, and product manufacturers.

Svend Christensen from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science at The University of Copenhagen (UCPH) is the coordinator of the PROTEIN2FOOD project.

Sabrina Ruzanski from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science at The University of Copenhagen (UCPH) is the contact person of the PROTEIN2FOOD project.

partner-university-of-copenhagenThe University of Copenhagen (UCPH) is the largest university in Scandinavia with 37,000 students and 7,500 staff. Two departments, UCPH-PLEN and UCPH-FOOD, under the Faculty of Science take part in the project.

UCPH-PLEN – Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences

The Department’s mission is to provide research, education and dissemination of knowledge in the area of food. The department performs research within food science and technology and covers all disciplines of food science in the chain from raw materials to processing and consumption with a focus on solving issues related to global challenges and often for the benefit of the industry.

Key competences relevant for PROTEIN2FOOD lie within the field of advanced analytical biochemistry and natural product chemistry combined with bioprocessing technologies for isolation and characterisation of plant products for food and feed. A fully equipped pilot plant facility scalable for industrial production is available for the project. Analytical methods are available for individual seed components, of nutritional as well as anti-nutritional importance, protein characterization and protein digestibility. Bioprocessing developments have been performed in EU projects including a) BOP – Bio-refining of rapeseed, b) HealthyProFood – focusing on lupin, c) GLIP (FP6), new strategies to improve grain legumes for food and feed, d) NovelQ (FP7), concerning novel processing of high-quality and safe foods. Recent projects on plant protein bioprocessing have led to patents of which several are being licensed by SMEs.

Read more on www.plen.ku.dk/english/

UCPH-FOOD – Department of Food Science

The department’s mission is to stimulate basic research and the synergy between basic and applied research in biology and environmental science. The focus is on plants, microorganisms, animals and the environment as the basis for the sustainable production of food and other biological products.

The Department has long-time experience with studies of agricultural development and crop science, including under-utilized species, crop adaptation and crop stress physiology. UCPH- PLEN, with Sven-Erik Jacobsen as coordinator, have handled the coordination of several EU projects; a) LATINCROP – An integrated strategy for the conservation and use of underutilized Latin American agro-biodiversity (FP7); b) “SWUP-MED” (FP7), working on climate proof cropping systems in Morocco, Syria, Turkey and southern Europe; and c) WATERWEB (“Water resource strategies and drought alleviation in Western Balkan agriculture”) (FP6).

Read more on www.food.ku.dk/english/

partner-cnr-isafomThe mission of the CNR – ISAFOM (Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems in the Mediterranean) is to pursue better understanding of biophysical processes in agro-system environments for improving the productivity of agriculture and forests through a sustainable land use, developing tools for: water and vegetation resources management, innovation of agro-food and forestry production, effects of the atmosphere and climate change on agricultural and forestry systems, no-food production and use by-product of agro-food industry. The CNR – ISAFoM aims to contribute to sustainable development of the agricultural system in consideration of the effects of climate change by following researches on processes that determine the functioning and dynamics of agro-ecosystems in the Mediterranean climate in view of their application for the enhancement and innovation of agro-food production, with particular attention to their final quality.

The group dealing with the PROTEIN2FOOD project investigates on soil-crop-atmosphere processes at several spatial scales .The main focus are on: (a) the primary production of southern Italy and innovative crops (quinoa, amaranth) in relation with stability of yield and quality, by addressing on the optimization of the resources use and tolerance to abiotic stresses; (b) chemical and bio-morphological characterization of some Mediterranean crops to obtain new nutraceutical and salutistic high value products for promoting human health; (c) environmental sustainability (e.g. water requirements and quality, N deficiency/leaching); (d) adaptation of irrigated and rain-fed agriculture to climate change, addressing the biophysical dimension of adaptation relied on existing crops intra-specific biodiversity.

Read more on www.cnr.it

Fraunhofer Logo
Fraunhofer is the leading organization for applied research in Europe, undertaking contract research on behalf of industry, the service sector and the government. Within the framework of EU technology programs, they are actively involved in industrial consortia which seek technical solutions to improve the competitiveness of European industry. At present, an annual turnover of about 1.7 billion € is generated in contract research by about 23,000 employees in 67 institutes and research units at locations throughout Germany.

The Fraunhofer IVV stands for high-quality food products and safe, effective, and convenient packaging systems. Efficient use of raw materials and minimal environmental impact are priorities in all its development work.

One of the core competences of IVV is the development of mechanical and extraction processes up to a small pilot plant scale for the recovery of ingredients from plant raw materials for a variety of applications in foods, animal feeds, and cosmetics. Depending on the specifications that are required, IVV modifies the resulting fractions, namely protein, soluble dietary fiber and secondary plant ingredients using physical and biochemical methods. State-of-the-art equipment and facilities allow IVV to develop high-quality and modern foods such as convenience foods, low calorie products, fiber-rich foods and foods with novel textures, e.g. meat surrogates based on vegetable proteins.

Read more on www.ivv.fraunhofer.de/en/ueber-uns.html

partner-uccUCC has been involved in several EU and national projects dealing with process development to produce cereal-based food (bakery products and pasta) and beverages (soft drinks, vegetable milk, beer) with extended shelf-life and improved sensory properties, including Andean seeds as raw materials. State-of-the art analytical and processing facilities allow UCC to perform research at the highest scientific level.

The established contacts with the food and beverage industries can be used in PROTEIN2FOOD to ensure an effective knowledge-transfer process. Knowledge gained in these projects will be adapted to produce food with excellent sensory and functional properties from legumes and Andean crops. The development of novel key-driven food products characterized by a cost-effective food process is expected to be successful as partners with long term experiences in these areas are jointly working. For the development of plant-based protein food (meat replacer, breakfast cereals, bakery products and pasta) and beverages (milk substitute, sport drinks and infant formula) laboratory prototypes will be developed through the optimisation of process parameters with consumer desired sensory qualities. A novel use of quality control of food products will be explored by X-ray (and neutron) scattering techniques using MAX IV synchrotron facility in Sweden. Complementary food technologies such as malting, selection of enzymes for enhanced processes, microbial fermentation, extrusion, and high pressure processing will be combined, and the evaluation of the nutritional and health aspects of the developed laboratory prototypes will be assessed. Each food prototype will be formulated by integrating the most suitable food bio-processes able to deliver desired sensory attributes and positive impact on human health.

Read more on www.ucc.ie/en/cerealscience/

UPM_logo The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) is one of the leading Spanish universities in teaching and research activities, covering all fields of engineering and architecture. More than 2,400 researchers are currently active at UPM, grouped into 216 Research Groups, 10 Research Centers and 55 Laboratories. In terms of involvement in EU funded projects, UPM is the number one in Spain, and one of the largest in the EU.

The UPM team of PROTEIN2FOOD work at the Department of Agricultural Economics, Statistics and Management within the School of Agronomy (Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos, ETSIA), a well known and respected institution for research in the fields of biotechnology, plant and animal sciences, rural engineering, agro-industry, and agricultural economics. The team has a wealth of experience in national and international projects dealing with agricultural policy, agri-food systems, rural development, agri-environmental policies, climate change and natural resource economics. As part of PROTEIN2FOOD, UPM will contribute to the assessment of market trends, patterns and potential of protein crops, whilst also evaluating the relevant socio-economic impacts of the proposed protein food solutions. UPM leads WP4 (Market Analysis) and participates in WP5 (Sustainability Assessment), WP6 (Dissemination) and WP7 (Management).

Read more on www.upm.es/institucional

IFEU logo
Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH (IFEU) is an independent non-profit environmental research and consulting organisation founded in 1978 with offices in Heidelberg and Berlin, Germany. IFEU’s mission is to promote applied science and research for the purpose of conservation and improvement of human and environmental health in general, and the:

a) protection of natural resources
b) protection of the earth’s atmosphere
c) protection of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
d) reduction and avoidance of risks and damages caused by toxic substances; as well as
e) conservation of necessary means of livelihood of future generations
in particular.

IFEU has been and is involved in a number of EU projects on bio-based products such as BIOCORE, SUPRABIO (both looking into sustainability assessment of bio-based products) and OPTIMA.

In the context of the P2F project IFEU will lead Work Package 5 “Sustainability Assessment”. The sustainability assessment will identify the most promising novel product lines based on protein crops and furthermore explore and, where possible, quantify the environmental and socio-economic benefits achievable at European and global scale through market supply with novel plant-based protein food.
IFEU will also be involved in WP 4 Market Analysis.

Read more on www.ifeu.de

SLU develops the understanding and sustainable use and management of biological natural resources. This is achieved by research, education and environmental monitoring and assessment, in collaboration with the surrounding community.

SLU have coordinated various successful international, regional and national projects, including FP6 and FP7 projects. SLU have participated in Nordic public-private partnerships on pre-breeding and undertake public breeding of crops grown by farmers in Scandinavia, for the use of various protein-rich bi-products from potato, wheat, crambe, carinata etc. for processed novel end-use products. SLU has been involved in protein morphology characterization and structure-function relationship aspects in an Interreg project “Bioraffinaderi Öresund” and in the coming Food-KIC of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). SLU is also involved in the projects dealing with development of modelling tools in order to link the functional properties and structure of various plant protein based products. SLU areas of expertise off relevance for PROETIN2FOOD are on carbohydrate partitioning, protein quality and nano-structure analysis using X-ray scattering techniques, and transcriptomes for identifying DNA markers for breeding and genetic resource enhancement research.]

Read more on www.slu.se/en/

IAR FR logo

The mission of the Institute is carrying out interdisciplinary research explaining the mechanisms of environmental impact on the wellbeing of humans and animals, and dissemination of results obtained. The scientific work is characterized by interdisciplinary and comprehensive approaches.

Research tasks of the Institute are being accomplished in its two Divisions: Division of Food Science and Division of Reproductive Biology. The research profile of the Division of Food includes:

  • determination of the effect of food and nutrition on the regulation of physiological processes in humans;
  • analyses of biologically-active components of food of plant origin;
  • development of methodology for food evaluation, and for studying interactions between food components and their interactions with human body.

IAR&FR PAS achieved the status of European Centre of Excellence in Knowledge Transfer, Research and Training in the Area of Food and Health (CENEXFOOD FP5-coordinator). The institute has been involved in EU projects INFORMAL (FP5) and EuroPrevall (FP6), both about food allergies. Projects on chemical and biochemical sensors for analysis of food were FOOD-Biosense (FP6-coordinator), REFRESH (FP7-coordinator), and Traditional Food Network (TRAFOON) (FP7).  IAR&FR PAS are currently part of two EU financed national projects closely related to PROTEIN2FOOD, entitled “Pro-healthy innovative bakery products from Warmia and Mazury Region” and “Application of sensory methods in elaboration and improvement agri-food SMEs products from Warmia and Mazury Region”.

partner-louis-bolkThe Louis Bolk Institute is an independent international knowledge institute to advance truly sustainable agriculture, nutrition and health. With practice-oriented research and advice we have contributed to the healthy humans, animals, plants and soils and their interrelationships, for more than 35 years. Our principal clients include the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs, the European Commission, provincial governments and businesses. They value our comprehensive vision of sustainable agriculture, nutrition and health, and our ability to come up with system-level solutions. The Louis Bolk Institute stands for: pioneering inventive and innovative research, evidence based results, a systems approach and applicable knowledge and solutions:

The Louis Bolk Institute contributes to the PROTEIN2FOOD project with its large expertise in the cultivation and use of leguminous crops (peas, faba beans and lupines) both as monocrop as mixed cropping with cereals, the expertise in breeding of leguminous crops and in the focus on the consumer market to provide information to the product developers.

Read more on www.louisbolk.org

Makere University

The mission of the Makerere University (MAK) is to provide innovative teaching, learning, research and services responsive to National and Global needs.

MAK – Established in January 1922 as a technical school – is one of the oldest and most prestigious Universities in Africa. In 1970, Makerere became an independent national university of the Republic of Uganda, offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses leading to its own awards. MAK is a public institution for higher learning Licensed by the Uganda national council for higher education, offerings day, evening and external study programmes to about 30,000 undergraduates and 3,000 postgraduates (both Ugandan and foreign. In 2011, the University transitioned into a Collegiate University comprising 8 Colleges and 2 Schools, operating as semi-autonomous units of the University (Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Business and Management Sciences; Computing and Information Sciences; Education and External Studies; Engineering, Design, Art and Technology; College of Health Sciences; College of Humanities and Social Sciences and College of Natural Sciences).

Read more on www.mak.ac.ug

partner-unalm

The National Agrarian University La Molina (UNALM) is an institution that specialises in training competent professionals in the areas of agronomic, economic, forestry and food sciences. Our professionals are distinguished for being proactive, innovative, and competitive, with managerial skills and social commitment. UNALM generates and applies the knowledge from basic and applied research for the sustainable development of Peru.

The National Agrarian University La Molina (UNALM) is ranked as the most important university in Agrarian Sciences in the country. The Faculty of Food Industries was among the first in Latin America to have specialized laboratories and pilot plants for food processing. The Institute of Agro-Industrial Development is an institute for agro-industrial research which aims to transfer scientific knowledge to fulfil local agroindustry needs. UNALM has various international projects related to the production and processing of Andean native grains, with partners like AgriFood Finland and University of Turku, Finland, and universities from Belgium and the United States.

The team of researchers for PROTEIN2FOOD project has a long experience in native grains (quinoa, amaranth, lupine etc.) which are potential sources of proteins. They have carried out research on nutritional value and the processing of these grains

Read more on www.lamolina.edu.pe

partner-sateanFundatia Satean is a non-profit corporate body located in Braila, in the South-East of Romania. It was established in 2007 by a group of Romanian and Italian partners and operates as a business incubator and a business innovation centre, to support enterprises in their early stage of development. Satean is involved in several EU co-financed projects, and is responsible of the implementation of communication and dissemination activities, thanks to its wide network spread throughout Europe.

In the framework of PROTEIN2FOOD project, Satean will be involved in testing the new cultivations. In particular, in Romania Satean will carry on the pilot cultivation of quinoa. Moreover, Satean is in charge for all the activities related to the social innovation issues, such as the organisation of crop management seminars and training courses addressing local farmers and the elaboration of a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed among the relevant local stakeholders and to be widely transferred to the project partners and outside the partnership.

Read more on www.satean.ro

eufic-200-150

The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) is a non-profit organisation that communicates science-based information on nutrition and health, food safety and quality, to help the public to be better informed when choosing a well-balanced, safe and healthful diet.

EUFIC has been involved in 20 EU-funded research projects since 2004, as dissemination and research partner, mainly desk or consumer research, and has acted as a coordinator in two projects, FLABEL and CLYMBOL.

EUFIC’s expertise, tools and networks enable a massive outreach to a wider audience of relevant stakeholders, such as consumer organisations, consumer scientists, food and drink industries (including SMEs), food scientist associations, health professionals, media policy makers, retail and catering sectors, public and society at a European level. As an indication of outreach, EUFIC’s website had over 10 million visitor sessions in 2014, and EUFIC’s newsletter FOOD TODAY, which exists in 12 languages, is distributed to more than 47,000 health professionals, educators, media, scientists, and other communication multipliers. EUFIC has more than 12,000 followers in its social media accounts, which include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube.

Read more on www.eufic.org

MFH pulses logoMFH-Pulses is active in the pulses market, which is whole seed, flour, precooked, concentrated and isolated vegetable protein. MFH has developed new legume ingredients like lupin protein concentrate for Pelmolen, participated in new products like ´we love nature´ brand from Vivera which is a meat replacer based on lupin and pea protein isolate and lupin bread with 50% of lupin from Spelt bakkerij.
MFH-Pulses is also importing legume proteins for the European industry.

MFH-Pulses contributes with her specialist knowledge of pulses to a better food distribution, sustainability and public health, worldwide.
Pulses for healthy people and a healthy planet. MFH-Pulses is giving the industry and government advice on processing, application and development of pulses. A higher consumption of pulses is good for people and planet.
MFH-Pulses is stimulating this with her knowledge transfer and by practical action.

MFH-Pulses will support WP2 and WP3 with fractions/proteins which are already on the market. Market knowledge of the business. And Reference products which are needed for WP3 from the industry/market.

In WP 4 MFH-Pulses will supply information about the current markets of pulses, fractions from pulses and consumer products of pulses. MFH-Pulses’ contribution will be market overview, market trends, market preferences by experience.

partner-prolupinProlupin is a small company from Germany, which is founded in 2009, based on the idea to provide food quality proteins from a local source.

We’re a local shareholder on different patents for the extraction of proteins from vegetal sources, especially lupines and got a broad knowledge about structural effects and usage of isolated proteins in food. As a direct spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute, we are able to network with different scientists from the institute.

Read more on www.prolupin.de or www.madewithluve.de

partner-cyber-colloidsCyberColloids Ltd. is an independent, business driven R&D company that offers a complete contract research & business solutions service: from raw material sourcing and basic research; through process and product development; to final application testing and strategic business advice. We are also engaged in research activities aimed at developing novel processing methodologies, new ingredients and innovative applications for new raw materials and downstream products that are derived from plants and seaweed. We have successfully participated in five EU funded FP7 projects. We are an SME with 10 staff based in Ireland and 2 staff based in the UK but we provide services worldwide.

CyberColloids brings particular expertise in the assessment of food ingredient behaviour and functionality to the PROTEIN2FOOD project – an understanding of which is an essential part of developing and commercialising new products. We routinely assess existing and new materials for basic behavioural properties and also how these properties are impacted by processing conditions. We will be responsible for evaluating the new protein ingredients that are developed in the project. We have a dedicated laboratory for the assessment of food ingredient behaviour at our facility in Ireland.

Read more on www.cybercolloids.net

partner-novolyzeNovolyze provides leading edge food safety solutions tailored to the specific needs of our clients. Constant innovation, consistent quality, excellence in food processing and microbiology as well as creative solutions to the challenges given to us by our clients – there are our hallmarks. World class quality levels are assured through our commitment and strict adherence to ISO 9001 and international standards. Complete client satisfaction is central and paramount to Novolyze.

Thanks to its double expertise in microbial food safety and process validation, Novolyze operates at two different levels of the PROTEIN2FOOD project, ensuring microbiological safety of the products developed among the different work-packages and validating their production process.

Read more on www.novolyze.com

Coposa

COPOSA (Control de Porciones, S.A.) is a food processing SME (36 staff). It was founded over 70 years ago, and since 1974 has been working on the preparation and selling of fresh, frozen, boiled and cooked meat-based products. Over the past 8 years the company has started a diversification strategy based on R&D with the aim of producing food solutions for consumers wanting a more comfortable and healthier lifestyle. A whole new business line features hamburgers, meatballs and steaks made of organically-grown plant proteins (soybean, wheat gluten and chickpea). Another business line is being launched for the production of foods with non-organic vegetable proteins.

As an SME with international activity, COPOSA will be one of the key end-users participating in PROTEIN2FOOD. The company will test the protein ingredients produced by the technological partners in the project, integrating them into existing products and creating new ones, on the basis of its expertise in the industrial use of protein ingredients in meat-alternative products. COPOSA will also play a key role in the market analysis, as it will provide to the project its knowledge on the Spanish and EU meat-alternative markets.

Read more on www.coposa.es/en/portal/index.asp

partner-nature-cropsNatureCrops aims to connect the mass-consumer with Quinoa based Organic & Gluten Free Foods – by properly combining marketing, innovation, communication and design. The foundation of our mission is our fully in-house managed supply chain from “Farm to Fork”, whereby we source our own quinoa, ship our own quinoa, process our own quinoa, produce our own branded products – and deliver them to a growing network of enthusiastic retailers throughout Europe. This enables us to guarantee quality, timely deliveries, quick R&D cycles and consumer cost price control. NatureCrops’ supply chain is fully certified Organic, Gluten free and ISO22000. Over time, NatureCrops grew into a company with 6 different product groups on the market, all 100% organic, all gluten free, and all based on Organic Quinoa. Our distribution reaches into Benelux, UK, France, Spain, Dubai, Turkey, Iceland, and will continue to expand rapidly.

This should place NatureCrops in a prime position to assist PROTEIN2FOOD with market oriented product development advice, so that the group can place maximum focus on achievements with the highest possible added value in the food & beverage markets throughout Europe.

Read more on www.naturecrops.com