INPROFOOD "Towards sustainable food research"

Food and health is a highly complex societal challenge and public engagement in research requires ever more focus. Over the past decade, most EU Member States have identified food and health as key priorities. This is in response to increases in obesity and diet-related chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases amongst their populations. Attempts to increase public awareness of appropriate ways to eat more healthily though do not seem to have led to significant changes in patterns of food purchase and consumption. It has become obvious that the development of effective measures for improvement is a demanding task and requires further systematic research and innovative approaches.

INPROFOOD is determined to tackle this hugely ambitious task during 3 years of intensive activities. Their aim is to foster dialogue and mutual learning between

• industry,
• academia and
• civil society already in the earliest stages of the research processes

directed towards developing innovative approaches (technical and social) for dealing with the food and health challenge. INPROFOOD was materialized with the basis that social discourse among research institutions, industry and civil society is therefore to be considered as a basic pre-requisite for moving towards a more reliable and achievable vision.