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International Conference Food and nutrition in 21st century

Content

Programme 2

Organizers 5

Rationale and objectives 6

Proceedings 8

Introductory plenary session 8

Parallel panel sessions 15

Session 1: Sustainability in the food chain 15

Session 2: Food quality and safety 17

Session 3: Nutrition and European population health and well-being 20

General Conclusions 22


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Programme

September 8th, 2011 09.00–17.00 Field trip 19.00–21.00 Welcome walking dinner

Central Agricultural Library, Krakowskie Przedmieście 66, Warsaw September 9th, 2011 08.00–09.00 Registration

Royal Castle, Kubicki Arcades Foyer 09.00–11.30 Introductory plenary session

Royal Castle, Kubicki Arcades Chair: Prof. Stanisław Bielecki

09.00 The role of science in addressing the challenges in area of food and agriculture Prof. Maciej Banach, Vice-Minister of Science and Higher Education

09.15 EU agricultural policy to secure high quality food supply for European consumers Dr Marek Sawicki, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

09.30 European Research for resilient and sustainable food chain Dr Maive Rute, Director, Directorate E - Biotechnologies, Agriculture, Food, European Commission

09.50 Bringing food safety and nutrition into perspective: Impact on human health Prof. Elke Anklam, Director, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission’s Joint Research Centre

10.05 Major challenges to European agri-food industry Dr Michael E. Knowles, Chairman, European Technology Platform “Food for life”

10.30 Challenges for food security: creating just, healthy, sustainable food systems globally in a changing world Geoff Tansey, Independent consultant, UK / Trustee, Food Ethics Council

10.55 Reforms of the EU policies and their potential impact on competitiveness of European agri-food industry Prof. Andrzej Babuchowski, Chairman of the Polish Food Technology Platform, Minister-counsellor for Agriculture and Fisheries at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union

11.30–12.00 Coffee break

Royal Castle, Kubicki Arcades Foyer 11.30 Press conference (invitations only)

Royal Castle, The Great Treasury 12.00–14.00 Parallel panel sessions


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Session 1 Sustainability in the food chain Royal Castle, The Assembly Hall Moderator and rapporteur: Dr. Christian Patermann

Introductory lectures

12.00 Impact of global food market and climate change on food sovereignty Prof. Mieke Uyttendaele, Ghent University, Belgium

12.15 Resource efficiency and bioeconomy Prof. Gerhard Schiefer, University of Bonn, Germany

12.30 “Greening” the food industry Dr Ulf Sonesson, The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, Sweden

12.45–14.00 Discussion Session 2 Food quality and safety

Royal Castle, The Concert Hall Moderator and rapporteur: Prof. Dietrich Knorr


12.00 Climate change and food safety Dr Hans. J.P. Marvin, RIKILT Institute of Food Safety, University of Wageningen, the Netherlands

12.15 Genetically modified food Prof. Tomasz Twardowski, Technical University of Lodz, Poland

12.30 Safe food products and safe packaging Prof. Cristina Nerin, University of Zaragoza, Spain

12.45–14.00 Discussion Session 3 Nutrition and European population health and well-being

Royal Castle, Kubacki Arcades Moderator and rapporteur – Prof. Dariusz Nowak


12.00 Obesity and other diet-related disorders Prof. Mike Gibney, Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Ireland

12.15 Healthy diets and sustainable consumption Prof. Erik Millstone, Science and Technology Policy Research Freeman Centre, University of Sussex, England

12.30 Nutigenomics and nutrigenetics – are they the keys for healthy nutrition Prof. Maria, Koziołkiewcz, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Technical University of Lodz, Poland

12.45–14.00 Discussion 14.00–15.00 Lunch break, visits at the expositions of regional food products

Royal Castle, Kubicki Arcades Foyer

15.00–16.30 Final plenary session and conclusions Chair: Geoff Tansey

15.00 Rapport from session Sustainability in the food chain Dr Christian Patermann


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15.15 Rapport from session Food quality and safety Prof. Dietrich Knorr

15.30 Rapport from sessions Nutrition and European population health and well-being Prof. Dariusz Nowak

15.45–16.30 Discussion 16.30–17.30 Farewell reception

Royal Castle, Kubicki Arcades Foyer


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Organizers

The Conference was organized jointly by:

Ministry of Science and Higher Education Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice, Poland,

under the substantive patronage of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The supporting organizers were:

Technical University of Łódź National Contact Point of EU Research Programmes

The Conference was co-financed by Polish Government and by European Commission within a project “FoodConference” (7th Framework Programme, project No. FP7-Adhoc-2007-13-280424) granted to the Research Institute of Horticulture.

Programme Committee

Prof. Andrzej Babuchowski, Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the EU

Prof. Stanisław Bielecki, Technical University of Lodz, Poland Prof. Luca Corelli Grapadelli, University of Bologna, Italy Prof. Mike Gibney, Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Ireland Mr Krzysztof Gulda, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland Prof. Mirosław Jarosz, Institute of Food and Nutrition, Warsaw, Poland Prof. Dietrich Knorr, University of Technology, Berlin, Germany Prof. Lech Michalczuk, Research Institute of Horticulture, Poland Prof. Cristina Nerin, University of Zaragoza, Spain Dr Christian Patermann, former Director of Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food

Research, Research Directorate general, European Commission Mr Geoff Tansey, Independent consultant, UK / Trustee, Food Ethics Council Prof. Mieke Uyttendaele, University Ghent, Belgium

Organizing Committee

Prof. Lech Michalczuk, Research Institute of Horticulture – chairman Prof. Franciszek Adamicki, Research Institute of Horticulture Ms Agnieszka Antosiak, Research Institute of Horticulture Prof. Eugeniusz Chyłek, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Prof. Ryszard Kosson, Research Institute of Horticulture Prof. Maria Koziołkiewicz, Technical University of Lodz Dr Barbara Michalczuk, Research Institute of Horticulture Ms Agnieszka Pełka, Research Institute of Horticulture Prof. Witold Płocharski, Research Institute of Horticulture Dr Krzysztof Rutkowski, Research Institute of Horticulture Ms Monika Rzepecka, Ministry of Science and Higher Education Dr Lidia Sas Paszt, Research Institute of Horticulture Dr Ewa Szkiłądź, National Contact Point of European Research Programmes

http://www.minrol.gov.pl/eng


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Rationale and objectives

Food industry is one of the most important sectors of European economy. It produces € 965 billion worth of goods, which accounts for 12.9 % of total manufacturing turnover and 2 % of Europe's gross domestic product (GDP). It employs over 4.4 million people, which constitutes 13.5 % of the total employment in the EU’s manufacturing sector. Additionally, over 11 million people (2.3 % of the population of the enlarged EU) are employed in the agricultural sector, many of whom live in rural or less developed areas of Europe. The total value added produced by food industry is over € 199 billion, which constitutes 11 % of the total value added in manufacturing the EU. Over the last decade this industry has had relatively low, but stable growth in both production (1.8 %) and value added (1.1 %). However, recent analysis show that competitiveness of the EU agri-food industry is decreasing, which is mainly due to a high labour cost and other environmental and social constraints, as compared to developing countries, but also due to low innovativeness of European agri-food industry. The expenditures on R&D in EU agri-food industry are at a low level and stagnated, as compared to whole industrial sector, whereas the R&D expenditure levels are higher and continue to increase in most of the competitors on the world food market. The scenarios for next several years indicate that the competitiveness of EU food industry will deteriorate further unless its innovativeness and the productivity level will significantly improve. Given the size and importance of this sector, such development may have a detrimental effect on the European economy as a whole. Significant effect on food production and competiveness of European food industry may have also global climate change. On one hand, increased atmospheric CO2 concentration will affect positively net photosynthesis rate, which may result in crop increase providing that nutrient level and soil water content are at optimal level. It is estimated that global warming will result in an increase of rainfall in some areas and an increase of atmospheric humidity and the duration of the wet seasons, which would favour cultivation of hygrophilous crops, like rice. However, more frequent will be a decrease of total precipitation. The most of the climatic models predict that global warming will result in negative soil water balance on large areas used for food production, which in borderline conditions may result in desertification. There are large uncertainties about the potential for adaptation of various biota to climate changes. Most agronomists believe that at the present pace of changes natural selection and adaptation will be not sufficient. Unless a big progress in crop breeding will be made, possibly with the help of bioengineering, a significant reduction of agricultural production will occur in many areas, especially those that are already suffering from poor soil and climate conditions. Recent study published in Science suggests that, by 2030, climate change will results in significant global reduction of food crops. Besides economic importance, the food industry is instrumental in securing food security as well as health and well-being of European citizens. Food, besides being the source of nutrients, may also provide a number of bioactive substances like flavonoids, terpenes and other antioxidants, dietary fibre, some peptides, polyols, innulin, plant stanols and sterols, polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially these with double bound at omega-3 position, and some trace elements like selenium, which, if regularly consumed, can prevent or significantly decrease the probability of a number of diet-related disorders. On the other hand, some other


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food components like saturated fatty acids, trans isomers of unsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol or salt (sodium) have negative effects on human health. Serious deleterious effects have also excessive food consumption, especially high in fat and carbohydrates. The European health reports show that obesity and other diet-related disorders are the major causes of deaths. The average consumption of dietary fat in EU equals 148 g per capita per day, which more than twice exceeds the daily fat intake recommended by WHO. What is more, this high-fat diet is usually accompanied by low fruit and vegetable consumption, thus is low in vitamins, antioxidants and dietary fibre. In effect, more than 15% adults in EU are now obese and 30% overweighed, which is associated with increased health problems, including heart and coronary system diseases, type II diabetes and cancer. Of particular concern is the rising incidence of overweight and obesity in children. The reading and partial mapping of human genome have opened new frontiers in nutrition studies and led to developing new fields of science – nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics. During the last several years a number of genes have been identified which determine the reaction of human organisms to different food components and it has been demonstrated that individual predispositions to certain diet-related disorders are linked to polymorphism within a single gene or gene cluster. Although there are still many unknowns, it is estimated that within several years the diet will be individually designed for a given consumer based on his/her genetic makeup. The challenges to food industry and nutrition are recognized by the European Union and they are addressed in several strategic documents. There is also a good understanding of needs for basic and applied research in these areas, which is articulated by European Commission in its research policy; the areas related to food and nutrition have been one of the mayor priorities in all Framework Programmes and several other European research programmes like COST, EUREKA and others. However, there is still a need for a throughout discussion of all the aspects of food and nutrition research and policy, with major players, like representatives of policy makers, consumers, agriculture, industry and science. Thus, the Polish Food Technology Platform, upon consulting Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, come up with an initiative to organize a conference “Food and Nutrition in 21st Century” within Polish Presidency in the EU Council. The general objective of the conference was to gather all stakeholders important for development of agri-food sector, including researchers, industrialists, civil society and policy makers, with aim at providing forum for overall discussion on present and perspective challenges to European agri-food industry, including analysis of trends in food and nutrition research and technology. The specific objectives of the Conference were:

to identify technological, environmental, social and economic challenges to agri-food industry and to food security and safety in European and global dimension,

to identify major trends in food and nutrition research,

to suggest recommendations for European and National research and innovation policies in the area of agriculture, food and nutrition.

to identify the main drivers and potential tensions linked to the societal issues and to elaborate scenarios of growth.

In recognition of the importance of the food and nutrition for European economy and for health and well-being of European citizens, the organization of Conference was in the 2011 Workprogramme of the EU 7th Framework Programme.


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Proceedings

The proceedings of the Conference were conducted in two major parts. The first was the Introductory plenary session during which the information on European policy in the area of food and nutrition was be presented. The purpose of the Panel sessions was to provide forum for discussion on various challenges which European food and nutrition science and industry has to face and to propose solutions which would mitigate them. Each session was attended by 100-200 participants representing science, industry, consumer’s organizations and governmental officers. This was an impressive number of experts with highly diversified knowledge. Since the objective of the Conference was to identify technological, environmental, social and economic challenges to European agri-food industry and nutrition and to suggest recommendations for European and National research and innovation policies in the area of agriculture, food and nutrition, it has been decided to ask what is their opinion instead of lecturing them ex cathedrae on the state of art in science and technology. Thus, the panel sessions were organised as foresight exercise. Each started with short introductory lectures, whose purpose was to outline the problem and propose thesis for discussion. The discussion, which followed, provided inputs for proposing research and technology priorities in the field of food and nutrition for the next several years.

Introductory plenary session

The role of science in addressing the challenges in area of food and agriculture. Prof. Maciej Banach, Vice-Minister of Science and Higher Education

Ladies and Gentlemen, Ministers, Ambassadors, Distinguished Guests, the fact that the Conference "Food and nutrition in 21st century" is taking place during Polish Presidency in EU council is not a coincidence since food and agri-food industry is one of our key priorities. This topic is also close to our hearts as consumers and individuals who care about the health and quality of life. The agenda of the Conference covers the aspects related to both economy and social issues. The food industry is one of the key sectors of EU economy; it produces goods worth about € 1 billion and employs several million people. Its main objective is to guarantee food security, which means to produce food not only in the right quantity but also in the right quality and the right properties. But at the same time, we should minimize wasting of food. It is not a trivial challenge since we need to increase food supply by 90 % in order to feed 9 billion people, which in 2050 will be living around the world. We also need to face a challenge like climate change, which will impact on the food production but also on food safety due the emergence of new pathogens of plants and farm animals. In the last years we seen mad cow disease caused by prions, dioxin scare as well as recent problems with food contamination by E. coli. In order to guarantee increase in food production, as well as environment protection, we need to use natural resources of sustainable way. We also need to increase the use of renovable energy sources. The global challenges also include social challenges;


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we need to guarantee sustainable social development and prevent social exclusion. We must pay particular attention to the protection of public health. It is well known that healthy food and healthy nutrition play a fundamental role in the health and well-being of our societies. As a physician I know very well what kind of challenges we have to face in the epidemics of obesity. Bad nutrition increases the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, which are the main cause of death around the world. There are extremely difficult tasks for science to face these challenges. We need to control the whole food chain – starting from the primary production and ending with the food offer to the individual consumers. This requires coordinated actions at the level of the Community, regional and local as well. The organizers of the Conference, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Institute of Horticulture, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as the European Commission, set the ambition goals. We would like the today’s meeting to provide the opportunity for discussion on current and future challenges to the agriculture and food industry with the special consideration of the role which science can play in meeting these challenges. Polish Presidency in EU comes at the time when we need to analyse and change the shape of key EU policies, such as Cohesion Policy, Common Agricultural Policy as well as the programmes to finance research and innovation. On financing research and innovation right now goes the broad discussion on the common strategic framework which is going to be called Horizon 2020. It should create a consistent and effective support system at local, regional and EU level. It should cover the next framework programme as well as integrate other support programmes such as the framework for innovation and competitiveness, European Technological Institute and others. In this context one shall mention the interim report of 7th Framework Programme, which was published in November 2010. It pointed out that 10 % of the best research institutes take over 80 % of resource for financing science, including that related to food and nutrition. This makes us to face enormous challenge related to balanced funding of all regions of Europe. That is why right now in the EU we are intensively working on having all the regions equally represented, so they all have an equal opportunity to gain EU assistance and funds. The Polish presidency has taken broad-reaching action to simplify the application, evaluation and then reporting. In the future framework we would like to have special dedicated programmes for small and medium enterprises, as well as small and medium research groups, which in our opinion are crucial for cooperation between science and the business, also in area of food and nutrition. Very important issue during the Polish presidency of the EU, is the action aimed at implementing the innovations as well as building an integrated European Research Area. The challenges that are considered in EU 2020 strategy determine the directions of development of the research and the development policy. Science needs to meet current challenges also in the area of agriculture, biotechnology and social sciences, which requires common and integrated policy at EU and national levels. It needs to be based on transparent legal framework and efficient legal solutions for financing science. It should be mentioned that such solutions in the area of research and development were recently introduced in Poland, which makes Polish research institutions adapted to challenges of contemporary economy. It is also worth to underline that the current level of expenditure for R&D projects in the area of food and nutrition in Poland equals almost 240 mln Polish zloty (app. € 60 mln). Focusing the Polish R&D policy on global challenges has also been emphasized in National Research Programme, adopted by the Polish government in August 2011. Among the 7 interdisciplinary strategic directions of the Programme, one is devoted to natural environment, agriculture and forestry and covers all the aspects of environment protection and agriculture, as well as food and nutrition which are the topic of this conference. To conclude, let me stress that identifying the key challenges that the European agro-industry has to face and formulating suggestions for European research policy in terms of innovation as well as implementing it as effectively is possible if all the interesting parties


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work together. I believe that the participation of all the eminent experts in this Conference will allow us to fulfil these objectives. EU agricultural policy to secure high quality food supply for European consumers Dr Marek Sawicki, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

Ladies and Gentleman, Professors, Dear

Participants of the Conference, Dear Guests, I would

like to thank the Institute of Horticulture for organizing

today’s Conference and for making Europe interested

in this topic. I would like to clearly emphasize that

European agriculture has been for years far away from

solving many problems and that agricultural research

does not receive enough funds. I would like the system

for finding research to take account of the specificity of

agriculture. When I say that agriculture is far away from solving many problems I need to

mention at least two issues. Let just think how much the world has had to tackle different

health problems; how many diseases originate from the food and nutrition we use. Today at

this Conference I would like us to answer at least partly the question how we can assist

Polish and European consumers in healthcare by promoting healthy food and nutrition.

Another important aspect is the issue of employment in the Europe and the World and the

issue of economic development. The important role has the Common Agricultural Policy

(CAP) which hopefully may be one of the key determinants of growth and development in

Europe instead of being a simple redistribution of the budget and the way to pay for

production capacity. The CAP was introduced almost 50 years ago when many European

nations faced food shortage problems and the main objective of was to secure food safety.

Since then, the food production significantly increased and nowadays the priorities are food

quality and safety rather than the yields and the volume of production. Thus nowadays CAP

shall be an instrument for financing innovation rather than an instrument for building barriers

against competitors.

The food safety also poses challenges to science. In Europe we have developed

administrative systems for quality control in agriculture and food industry and extremely

important is compliance with norms and standards, traceability and labeling of products in

order to provide full information to consumers on the content and origin of food products. The

food quality determined the quality of life and has the impact on health protection and

efficiency of work. Well fed, happy person is also happy to accept new tasks.

Industrialization of food production did not promote the food quality and safety but proved

to be unsustainable in terms of environmental, social and economic resources. Lengthening

the food chain and transport of food products over hundreds of kilometers is costly and use

fossil fuels with negative effect to the environment and climate change. Industrial agricultural

production in monocultures without proper crop rotation results also in soil degradation,

which is a nonrenewable resource. Thus, perhaps it is the time to go back to the good

production models like family farms. Polish agriculture has luckily not departed far from

nature. The Polish soils are not degraded nor contaminated.

To conclude, I would like to say a couple of words about biotechnology and GMO

production. Dear European scientists, do no neglect this issue. Please, keep working on it

more actively and keep informing if there are any treats; if there are no treats, inform about it

likewise.


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European research for resilient and sustainable food chain Dr Maive Rute, the Director of the Directorate E – Biotechnologies, Agriculture and Food of the European Commission

Ladies and Gentleman, first of all I would like to

thank Polish Presidency for having given me the

opportunity to be here and I must say that I am most

impressed by the location of the Conference as well as

by the high level of speakers and large number of

participants who have come today to discuss food and

nutrition in 21st century. I would like to make a special

reference to bioeconomy. When we look the

bioeconomy, we think about economy which is getting

its raw materials from land and sea and forests in

accordance with the nature and destiny. The topic of this Conference is at the very core of

this concept. Of course it is clear that we have first of all provide food for the population of

today and tomorrow, but we also we realize that people need more than just food. They need

all kind of materials, clothes and so on. I believe that the task ahead for agriculture and

forestry is to be able to provide not only food for the growing population but also to provide

raw materials for chemical and other industries. For me, coming from European Commission,

the Research and Innovation branch, and being responsible for research in agriculture,

forestry, food and biotechnology, this Conference is being an excellent platform to have

discussion at the highest level. I intend today to say a few words about the research we

cover and lay out some of the plans and some of the most important research development

we have in this field.

Sustained availability of healthy food is an issue of global dimension. There are about

one billion people in the world who are going hungry and there is another billion who are

overweighed or obese. So, clearly there are problems in our food distribution system. On the

globalized market food safety and food security is an issue. Competitiveness of the

European agri-food sector is something which we clearly see as the priority. The food

industry is one of the largest job providers in Europe. Thus, to maintain these jobs and to

provide even more jobs in this sector is something we should aim at. In the European Union,

we are trying to find effective solutions with which not only the food security but also other

issues would be well met. At the research and innovation side we have currently the so

called Theme 2 within Framework 7th and the research in this Theme is referring to food,

health and well-being as well as biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, forestry and fishery.

There is a number of projects currently being funded which deals with food processing and

are providing innovative inputs on novel food technology, minimalized food safety risk,

improved quality management systems, resource efficiency, reduced use of energy and

water, reduced waste and more efficient packaging systems. On the consumer side we

support projects analysing food choice and eating habits in order to better understand the

effect of different factors on consumers’ behaviour and the impact of food choice on

consumers’ health. This research also contributes to the development and implementation of

food policy and it provides the information to the consumers as well. In the area of innovation

we look not only at food products and processes but also at organizational structures, which

is in line with the planned reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, and on projects which

aim at knowledge and technology transfer. I am very glad to recognize today among

audience here and also on the speakers list a number of people who participate in our

research projects. This is a good evidence that the projects we fund come up with usable

and helpful outcomes which can be presented and share today with you.


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Besides financing research, DG Research also is supporting the strengthening the

European Research Area, which is a long term agenda aimed at coordinating research done

at Member States level, creating common research infrastructure, mobilizing critical mass of

researchers and resources, and promote researchers’ mobility. There are a number of tools

already in place like: European Research Area Network (ERA-Net), which brings together

program managers, and European Technology Platforms, which are made of industry

representatives who give inputs to programing priority lists. And there are also two new

initiatives, the Join Programming Initiatives which mobilise members States to work together

at research priorities. One such an initiative is being developed in the area of “Healthy diet

for a healthy life” and the second is focused on “Agriculture, food security and climate

change”. Recently, the European Council has adopted the Innovation Union approach. This new policy document requests that the organisation of European Research Area should be completed by 2014. The public consultation of this issue will be initiated soon. The long-term challenges, which were already mentioned: the globalization, pressure on resources, the aging of population require new approach. From the research and innovations point of view, the Commission is now putting forward very important policy document; a proposal for the next multiannual financial framework called “Horizon 2020”, which is a significant step forward in financing research, from € 59 billion in 7th FP to about € 80 billion in the Horizon 2020. In this proposal, € 4.5 billion has been specifically earmarked for research and innovations in food security, sustainable agriculture and bioeconomy. This is quite remarkable because this is the only area which has clearly earmarked budget. As compared to the current level of funding, this is a great increase. In parralel, there are works going on on the policy of bioeconomy, which are coordinated with works on reforms of Comon Agricultural Policy. This task can not be achieved by just one government or by European Comission. We need to mobilize the wide stakeholdes range. I am specyfically looking here at the representaives of industry and researchers who could contrubute to the creation of this new policy, but also its implementation. Bringing food safety and nutrition into perspective: Impact on human health Prof. Elke Anklam, Director, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission’s Joint Research Centre Professor Elke Anklam, provided background on the food safety and the quality aspects and the impact of a diet on consumers’ health. She has pointed out that consumers are having very high, but sometimes conflicting expectations about the food they purchase. It shall be fresh, but also able to be stored; it should look and taste good; it shall be as natural as possible, it shall be wholesome; it shall be inexpensive and it shall be safe. The information provided on labels, as well those available from the media, are extensive but not always understandable and frequently contradictory due to many sources of information. In the consumers’ view, the most important safety problems are: dioxins, BSE, GMOs, acrylamide, antibiotics, hormones, irradiated food, pesticides and other residues, additives (preservatives), allergens and microbiological contamination. All of them are important to some degree, but the real treat constitute the latest, as was evidenced by the recent outbreak of E. coli contamination in Europe which resulted in many deaths and economic damages to the industry and the farmers. However, it must be kept in mind that it was not just a single outbreak. There are stringent European


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regulations to protect consumer’s health, but anyhow each year people are dying in Europe and worldwide from Salomonella, E. coli, Listeria and other infections. Equally important for food safety is the food handling by consumers after purchase;

frequent defrozing during transport home, inadequate storage conditions at home and

inadequate processing The consumers are also responsible for composing their diet. The

knowledge on healthy diet and life styles is not common and the daily diets are usually not

balanced. It results in growing frequency of overweightness and obesity; in 2011, 1.5 billion

people were overweighed worldwide, in which 500 million were obese. The big concern is

increasing obesity among children. The overweight is related to chronic non communicable

diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. However, obesity is not only caused by

a diet. It is influenced by genetic background, psychological stress and socioeconomic

impact. Therefore, there is a need for better understanding the determinant of obesity. On

the other hand, there are about 1 billion people worldwide which are undernourished and

additional 1 billion suffering malnutrition. This is a challenge to the developed countries that

shall develop responsible and sustainable consumption. There are very high food safety

standards in Europe, but this is not the same in some other parts of the world. In conclusion

Professor Anklam pointed out that:

Food safety is important, however, there should be a right for comparable standards for

every human-being worldwide;

There can be a bad nutrition despite high food safety and quality standards;

Education and training of consumers is necessary;

Good nutrition is pre-requisite for a good quality of life including healthy ageing and

should be the right for everyone worldwide. Major challenges to European agri-food industry Dr Michael E. Knowles, Chairman of the European Technology Platform “Food for life”,

At the beginning of his leture Dr Knowles presented

information on ETP “Food for life”, which is industry-led,

public/private partnerships. It was created in 2005 under the

auspices of the Confederation of the food and drink Industry of the

EU (CIAA). The main objective of the Platform is to strengthen the

European innovation process, improve knowledge transfer, unite

stakeholder communities in reaching strategic research objectives

and stimulate European competitiveness across the food chain.

The membership of the ETP “Food for Life” is consisted of 26

National Federations and 3 observers, Sector associations

(bakery, dairy, oils etc.) and 19 food enterprises.

The major challenges to the European food industry, as seen

by the Platform, are:

Burdensome regulatory framework which inhibits innvoations,

Inconsistence in European and National regulations

Incomplete and /or inappropriate use of research;

Low investmenst in R&D in EU fruit industry, as compared with main competitors on the

world food market;

Inadequate coordination of food research at EU and national levels;

Inefficient technology transfer, especially to SMEs;

Decreasing share in the world food market;

Consumer attitudes not favourable for food innovations; preference for “natural” food.


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Challenges for food security: creating just, healthy, sustainable food systems globally in a changing world Geoff Tansey, Independent consultant, UK / Trustee, Food Ethics Council Mr Tansey outlined the major challenges in Europe and elsewhere to creating a well-fed world, equitably and sustainably. He questioned the adequacy of conventional food security thinking in achieving this and listed the four key global challenges as:

Climate change, which is an unintended consequence of the technical developments since the 18th century and the replacement of human and animal power with power and production systems based on fossil fuel;

Uneven global wealth distribution and continued marginalisation of the poorest. Worldwide, only 10% of the adults own approximately 86% of the household wealth whereas 50% own barely 1%. This disparity in wealth between the richest parts of the world and the poorest is unsustainable;

Competition over resources, including energy, land, water, and minerals;

Global militarization and misallocation of funds to this instead of activities that would help meet the above challenges and facilitate food production.

In the face of these challenges, future approaches must focus on sustainable security for all people on this planet and how the way we make provision for food and water support this. It requires far more than technological innovation but also political, social, economic and legal innovations. Europe has a particular historical responsibility for the unintended consequences of industrialisation and global restructing of the food system. It also has to face up to living in a world where others may need and secure the resources currently relied on to support much of its food system and way of life. To avoid collapse, and make both Europe and the world’s future more sustainable, the EU should embrace the approach characterised by the Commission’s Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR), in their 3rd Foresight report, as the ‘sufficiency narrative’. This requires a restructring of food and agricultural policies and practices around agro ecological principles and cyclical mechanisms across the food system in which equity and justice are fundamental. He warned that the world is moving in a rather a less palatable direction, which is a variant of the SCAR’s productivity (business as usual, produce more) narrative. In this, the richest billion and a half or so people in the world extend their lives and lifestyles by every means possible, and assume that any unforeseen or adverse consequences will be suffered by the bottom billions and / or that they will be able to keep ‘the lid’ on the discontent this generates. It is a recipie for conflict. Thus the EU’s Research & Development money should be used to support innovation more imaginatively, and more broadly, and not see it as being primarily about technology. Europe’s challenge is to embrace a vision of sustainable development that understands how we achieve prosperity without growth in the rich countries, whilst facilitating differently based growth for the poor in developing countries. This requires a fundamental rethink about the basis of the economics that drives business activity and approaches to innovation. Here, the EU could take the lead. It could follow up the Sarkozy commission work on rethinking GNP as well as the various subsidy regimes and legal changes extending the intellectual property regime, notably patents, into food and farming. It is important to understand that innovation is not necessarily a good thing. That depends upon the nature of the innovation, its effects, and who or what and when, benefits and loses


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from the innovation - as has been demonstrated by the excess of financial innovation leading to recent crises. Europe has to recognise that in future what it or the US decides to do is far less significant than what China and India do in choosing their future. Europe should prioritise research on ecological intensification within an ecological economy, rather than so called sustainable intensification in a neo-liberal, market based economy as a surer basis for a propserous future for its citizens. This requires innovation in consumption patterns, connecting sustainable production and consumption in food and farming, and tackling the things that shape food and technology choices. Such a research agenda would include work on: 1. Laws, rules, regulations, incentives, including those on:

monopoly or exclusionary privileges or ‘intellectual property rights’;

commodity trading and the financial system;

better ways of managing food supplies than the commodity trading system;

corporate law, limited liability status, transfer pricing, tax havens, the treatment of corporations as judicial persons and roles and responsibility of shareholders so that accountability for social, economic and environmental well-being becomes integrated to the responsibilities of business entities.

2. How to link sustainable production systems and sustainable consumption patterns including:

farming systems that move away from the current intensive fossil fuel based farming models;

Research into and control of the determinants of unsustainable and unhealthy eating patterns, including advertising and marketing as well as the taxation and the reward systems of people as consumers, producers, employees and researchers;

social relations and fairness in reward systems and practices between urban and rural environments;

reframing the way in which the priorities are set for the scientific and technical research and development budgets.

Such a daunting, wide-ranging and challenging agenda is what Horizon 2020 should be tackling. He argues that this work is essential to help Europe adjust to a new role in the world as power shifts – economic, political and military. Europe’s ability to access resources currently taken as available for it – not just energy, but also, say, animal feedstuffs – will change. This is part of an approach to a sustainable and equitable global future which will minimise the potential for conflicts. Another area for rethinking concerns land and assuming it can be used to produce anything, whether food, fibre, feed or fuel. On such a position the demands of the rich will override the needs of the poor. The EU needs to be very clear that the central goal and priority of its use of agricultural land is for food production, in ecologically sound ways that maintain the viability of farming systems and do not degrade soils, forests, lakes, rivers and seas. Reforms of the EU policies and their potential impact on competitiveness of European agri-food industry Prof. Andrzej Babuchowski, Minister-counsellor for Agriculture and Fisheries at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union and the Chairman of Polish Food Technology Platform.

Prof. Babuchowski in his lecture presented information on planned reforms of Common Agricultural Policy. In the two documents: strategy 2020 and the budget for Europe up to 2020 three mutually reinforced priorities are placed: smart growth, sustained growth and inclusive growth, and these priorities will be


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woven into next phase of the Common Agricultural Policy. Smart Growth in the context of the CAP is related to developing green technologies, providing incentive for social innovations in rural areas and improving innovation uptake in agriculture. The sustained growth in CAP means sustainable production of food and feed and sustainable land management. CAP is meant also to stimulate inclusive growth by promoting innovations in underdeveloped rural areas.

The EU goal for 2020 is to designate 3% of EU Domestic Product on research and

development. The budget of Horizon 2020 alone amounts to € 80 billion, of which € 4.5

billion is devoted entirely to food security, bioeconomy and sustainable agriculture. There is

also € 60 billion foreseen in structural funds. The future European research will be based on

4 cornerstones: excellence in the science, meeting societal challenges, creating industrial

leadership and boosting

competitiveness based on the selection of action and instruments driven policy objectives. In

order to foster the priorities, the European Commission proposed 7 flagship initiatives, of

which 3 are CAP-oriented: innovation Union, digital agenda for Europe and resource-efficient

Europe. The Common Agricultural Policy is designed to deliver a modern, sustainable and

efficient agricultural sector in Europe. However, it shall be emphasized that CAP does not

finance directly any research, but it has substantial impact on future research topics. These

include: viable food production, sustainable management of natural resources, climate

change and balanced territorial development. At the end of his lecture Prof. Babuchowski

said that he purposefully did not put forward any conclusions because these shall result for

the conference.

Parallel panel sessions Session 1: Sustainability in the food chain

Moderator and rapporteur: Dr Christian Patermann Introductory lectures Impact of global food market and climate change on food sovereignty Prof. Mieke Uyttendaele, Ghent University, Belgium

Prof. Uyttendaele’s lecture was based in a big part on results of Veg-i-trade project (7th FP)

which she has coordinated. She pointed out that the fresh produce international market

create food safety risks, which occurs despite border sanitary control and food safety

regulations. The recent outbreak of E. coli contamination of fenugreek sprouts or the

contamination of frozen raspberries with noroviruses are the examples. There are also

frequent problems with pesticide residue and mycotoxins. The new challenges to food

security and safety, like scarcity of clean water or the emergence of new pathogens, may

results from climate change. The meet these challenges, comprehensive integrated

assessments of farm to fork production systems and food security/ food safety for different

scenarios of climate change must be done. This requires a coordinated research on agri-food

technology, agricultural economy, logistics, climate change and social sciences.

Resource efficiency and bioeconomy Prof. Gerhard Schiefer, University of Bonn, Germany

The challenge for the sector is to provide consumers with food that is safe, affordable and

of the quality and diversity they expect (responsibility) while respecting economic,


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environmental and social needs (sustainability). But the food production does not match the

growth of the population. During last 20 years global agricultural productivity has increased

annually by 1.3% while to provide sustainable food supply 2.5-3% is needed. Thus, the most

important resource is food. The objective of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable

and inclusive growth is to decouple economic growth from the use of resources, support the

shift towards a low-carbon economy, increase the use of renewable energy sources and

promote energy efficiency. There are several approaches possible to rationalise the “food

resource” use. First, it is reduction of waste during production, along distribution chain and

household waste. Then, improvement in technological input/output relationship, reuse and

recycling. There is also limited possibility to increase resource availability: land, water and

energy. And finally, it is possible to reduce cost infrastructure by limiting long-distance

transport of agri-food products. The critical success factors in implementing this strategy are:

innovations, education, institutions, cooperation, research and readiness to change.

“Greening” the food industry Dr Ulf Sonesson, The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, Sweden The core system of the food chain is consisted of agriculture/fisheries – industry – retail – consumer – waste treatments. It requires inputs of land/marine resources, pesticides, fertilizers, energy (fossil fuels), packaging and water. Food production itself produces greenhouse gases (mainly CO2) and thus contributes to global warming. The “Greening” the food industry” is not a goal in itself, but an important part of providing “sustainable nutrition”. The options include reduced food wastage, optimisation of energy use during production, processing and transport/retail, new packaging design, improvement of raw material/product ratio and improved functioning of food chain. Since animal production results in almost 10 time higher emission of greenhouse gasses (methane from enteric fermentation and manure) than production of cereals or pulses of the same nutritional value, switching by consumers to diets congaing less meat would result in mitigating the impact of food production on climate change. Summary of discussion Dr Christian Patterman

The invited speakers provided a background for the discussion on sustainability in the food chain. The topic which is in many ways special and has very strong impact on the bio-economy. There was a small innovation in the programme of our session because I have asked one more speaker, Prof. Ulrich Schurr, the Chair of the recently established German bio-economy centre in Jülich, to provide a short comment from the perspective of this Centre which coordinates work on bio-economy at more than 50 research institutions. The general conclusion from the discussion is that the whole food chain, including agriculture, is and will remain an integral part of bio-economy. There are very important issues included like food security, food safety etc., which come up as topics for future deliberations on the next framework programme. This approach along the food chain will indeed help researchers and stakeholders to jump out of the narrow box of competence and activity and cooperate in the truly multidisciplinary and integrated way. These are requests which are asked by people. The notion on sustainability has special meanings in the contexts of the food chain, with respect to the just mentioned European Commission’s strategic documents on food security, bio-economy and sustainable agriculture. The hopefully increased funding of these areas in the next CSF, we have heard about €4,5 billion, is welcomed but it was also expressed that the future economic situation


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may not have this quite bright outlooks. So, the efficiency in research will also be needed in the future. It was very convincingly demonstrated that Europe is an important food producer and participates in the very complex food and feed supply chain that means in the global food market, but that Europe’s influence and its importance will probably be reduced in the future. The international food market must therefore be better understood, which requires the research in that area. Complexity seems to be very important phenomena in food consumption as well and there is also a need for more research to understand it. There are institutional and legal elements like harmonization, regulations, norms and standards, but also the question of communication of risks and hazards and a new ways of cooperation along a food chain which were strongly emphasized the speakers. Research efficiency with respect both to a single unit and a consortium was mentioned as an important objective. Serious challenge to food sustainability is limited availability of natural resources like water, soil and energy, which was stressed by many speakers. In this context the proposal was made to expand research in that area, with emphasis on development of resource- efficient technologies, reuse and recycling but also on better education of the society. A very important point of the discussion were pre- and post-harvest loses, which are very serious in developing countries and wasting of food which frequently occurs in the developed world. However, many experts pointed out that the evidence-based data on food loses and wastes are often missing. Therefore, more attention should be paid to this topic in future research programmes. A number of speakers pointed out the complexities of the interaction between global climate change and food production. On one hand, agriculture strongly depends on climate, especially on water balance both in regional and global dimension. Change in mean temperature may result in emergence or re-emergence of new diseases of plants and farm animals, which in turn may have an effect of food safety. On the other hand, agriculture, especially animal production, affect climate by emission of greenhouse gases, which was nicely demonstrated on the example of pork burger and a “pea burger”. The complexity of this interaction requires coordinated interdisciplinary research. Dear colleagues, ladies and gentleman, the speakers and the audience welcomes strongly that forum for discussing these items for the future which have been offered, and I also personally thank very much the organizes for the very good organization of these meeting.

Session 2: Food quality and safety Moderator and rapporteur: Prof. Dietrich Knorr


Climate change and food safety Dr Hans. J.P. Marvin, RIKILT Institute of Food Safety, University of Wageningen, the Netherlands

In his lecture, Dr Marvin presented outcomes of the Go-Global project (7th FP), in which the food safety risks were analysed by Delphi survey mad in 11 European countries. As the major drivers affecting food safety the experts identified: globalization and changing food trade patterns, climate change, novel technologies (for example nanotechnology) and economy. The climate factors affecting food safety were: worsening water balance, increased temperature on land and sea, weather extremes with periodic droughts and floods, elevated CO2 level. In the opinion of surveyed experts, climate change will affect food safety by:

Increased incidence of plant diseases

Higher pesticide residue contents


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Increased prevalence of natural toxins (mycotoxins, phycotoxins, phytotoxins)

Increased contamination of surface water (e.g. heavy metals, PAHs, PCBs, etc.)

Increased bioavailability of contaminants (e.g. Hg with increasing temperature)

Increased incidence of animal diseases

Increased microbial infections (e.g. E. coli O157, Campylobacter, Salmonella)

as a consequence of increased temperature

Genetically modified food Prof. Tomasz Twardowski, Technical University of Łódź, Poland

In 20th Century, several mayor innovations were implemented in agriculture which

increased yields and improved food security worldwide. The most important were:

introduction mineral fertilizers in 1020s, introduction of synthetic pesticides in 1950s and

introduction of hybrid cereal cultivars (Borlaug’s “green revolution”) in 1970s. In 21st Century

the new technology is genetic engineering, which has many advantages but also evokes very

emotional reactions of consumers. This technology is widely accepted in production of

medicines (recombinant insulin and other human hormones, vaccines etc.) but is strongly

contested by general public when it is used in food and feed crops. Nevertheless,

recombinant plants (soybean, corn, rape) are presently grown on millions of hectares

worldwide and component derived from GMO crops are present in over 70% of food products

available on European market.

Safe food products and safe packaging

Prof. Cristina Nerin, University of Zaragoza, Spain

The lecture presented is based on outcomes of SAFEMTECH project financed within

Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP). The packagings affect

food safety and quality by preserving sensoric values, preventing contamination and

increasing storage time. Most of the food products on the market are packaged. There are

new, innovative types of packagings (active, “intelligent” etc.) recently being introduced on

the market, which have antimicrobial and antioxidant activities and form semipermeable

barriers allowing tor control atmosphere within. The “intelligent” packages are equipped,

which monitor time and temperature, potential contamination with pathogenic

microorganisms etc. However, packages must be also neutral in terms of materials,

adhesives, printing inks etc., which may migrate to the food.

Summary of discussion Prof. Dietrich Knorr

The three speakers provided background for

discussion on climate change and food safety,

genetically-modified food, safe production and safe

packaging. Since the topics were so diverse, we

decided to discussed them individually and I will

present some of my personal thoughts later on. The

first topic was climate change and food production. As

it was presented in the introductory lecture by Dr

Marvin, the most important negative effect of climate

change would be weather extremes, especially prolonged draught periods. Another


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challenge is possible emergence of new plant and stock diseases due to mutations or

extension of territorial spread of pests and pathogens due to increase of temperature and

increasing microbial contamination of the processed food. The predicted increase of global

temperature will take place within next several years, which is very fast for climatic changes,

and it will be very difficult, if at all possible, for plants to adapt to these changes. Therefore,

intensive breeding, supported with biotechnological methods, will be necessary to obtain new

cultivars with desired traits. Also, new methods of plant protection and early warning systems

shall be developed.

The challenge which is not directly linked to food production but will affect quality of life is

the decrease of fresh water resources. Since over 90% of global fresh water reserves are in

the icecaps, they will be irreversibly lost with their melting down due to rise in the global

temperature.

Adaptation of cultivated plants and farm animals to climate change would be possible

within limited time available with the help of genetic engineering. GMO would also help to

feed the growing world population, which may be difficult to achieve in the situation when

natural resources are decreasing. However, this revolutionary technology is contested by

many politicians and general public. Therefore, besides developing new methods of gene

recombination and genetic transformation, extensive studies on risks and benefits of this

technology are needed and the results shall be widely publicised. Actions to regain

consumers trust by information were an interesting notion that one of the speakers

suggested. It seems to work at Netherlands and it also turned out in the discussion that the

consumers and politicians different countries react differently to GMOs, so it would be very

important to figure out what are the other national differences within the European Union. As

it was pointed out by one of the experts, the European science and agriculture will lose its

competitive edge if no or little GMO research will be done now and in the future. Another issue which has been discussed during this session are food packagings. As

presented by Prof. Nerin form University of Zaragoza, modern packages not only prevent

food contamination but also monitor storing conditions during entire chain of production and

handling and issue warning when the threshold of were exceeded. However, the packaging

material shall be neutral and none of its components shall migrate into the food products.

The edible coating and microcapsulation of food, which is a special type of packaging, needs

to be studied intensively to identify potential risks involved. As it was pointed out during the

discussion, many packaging materials are nowadays silverised by immobilizing nanoparticles

in the matrix to obtain antimicrobial effect. However, the safety of this technology is not yet

fully understood. Therefore, a fundamental research is needed on toxicology and penetration

on nanoparticle through membranes or through the mucosa.

The issue connected with packaging is recycling. The best solution would be to use

exclusively biodegradable materials in their production, but it is not always possible. Some of

the complex, intelligent systems may be even more difficult to separate and consequently

recycled.

And this time I would like to present some of my personal thoughts. I looked at the

general challenges to food industry and I found what some caching titles like “food for life”

that comes from European technology platform, “chain integration”, “safe food”” etc. But we

neglect the problem of drinking water security and safety, which is even more important than

food security. One can live without food much longer than without drinking water, so I think

this is even more challenging than the food issue. Then there is smart processing or reverse

engineering in which the processes are adapted to the preference, acceptance and the

needs of the consumers. There is also a very powerful concept of proper technologies,

meaning not always up scaling but adapting the scale to the actual needs. The diversity of

the food industry needs diversified processing equipment and scalable, robust technology

than they can change from one product to another.


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There is a big discussion going on among food scientist, but this point only the large

international companies are dealing with it. And we have to find ways how we can bring open

innovation to our SMEs. And then there is an issue of food globalization and nutrients

security, which is a very powerful concept because we all need nutrients and nutrients

security may be more important than food security. Research is going to individualization on

nutrition, tailored foods and targeted processing and integration of processing packaging.

The research agendas in area of food and nutrition are being developed by several

European organizations like EFFoST, ETP, ILSI and other. I think it is a time that we sit

together and develop common research agenda and possibly advice the commission.

Yesterday at the train I realized that Poland lies east to Germany and in the Baltic region.

There are a lot of common efforts and I think we should increase this by bilateral activities

between German and the other regions; I think we should increasing it even further.


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Session 3: Nutrition and European population health and well-being Moderator and rapporteur: Prof. Dariusz Nowak


Obesity and other diet-related disorders Prof. Mike Gibney, Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Ireland

There is a pandemic of overweightness and obesity observed in recent years and

predicted that in the next two decades there will be 65 million of obese subjects in the US

and 11 million obese subjects in the UK. Obesity is the main case of many disorders, like

cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. It is estimated that due to obesity in both

countries there will be 6-8.5 million of new cases of diabetes and 5.7-7.3 million of new CVD

cases, and the total costs obesity-related healthcare expenditure will amount to $48-66 billion

in the US and £1.9-2 billon in the UK. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to reverse this

trend. The intervention may include changing in eating habits of the population toward the

lower energy uptake. The problem is that there are very little empirical evidences on dietary

intervention success. The tendency to overweightness depends on the genetic setup of the

individuals and there is a high variation in the population. Thus, a systemic approach is

needed to:

better understand the genetic control of all obesity drivers,

establish accurate predictive models of the development of obesity and its management,

develop robust methods of evaluating intervention studies,

develop a systems approach to evaluate cost-benefit modelling.

The research is also needed on factors affecting food choice, eating patterns, satiety, hunger

etc. Malnutrition in the elderly is the opposite spectrum but equally deserving research.

Healthy diets and sustainable consumption

Prof. Erik Millstone, Science and Technology Policy Research Freeman Centre, University of

Sussex, England

Prof. Millstone started his presentation by contesting some claims in the previous lecture.

He questioned the hypothesis that genetics is a key factor in recent changes in the incidence

of obesity. To support this, he quoted data showing that during last two decades the rate of

obesity among children had doubled whereas there was no significant change in the genetic

characteristics of the population during that time and probably barely any changes in the last

20 000 years. Obesity is a function of energy balance and not just food intake; children

inherit from their parents not only genes, but also eating habits and life styles. Therefore, to

devote large resources to studying genetic aspects of obesity is not a good use of scarce

resources.

Much of the discussion during this Conference was about food science and technology,

nutrition, health, welfare etc. Millstone focussed his lecture on the question: under what

conditions can R&D and innovation contribute to healthy diets and sustainable consumption

in the EU, given that over the last ~50 years they have often taken us in the opposite

direction? It is important to recognize that innovation is a vector property but not scalar

property. It has not just magnitude, but also direction. The debates today have focused on:

How fast? And: Who leads? Neglecting: Which way? Why? What alternatives? Who

chooses? In a discussion of healthy diets and sustainable consumption, the critical issues

concern contested choices about: 1) which benefits should be targeted and 2) which types of

risks should be reduced or avoided? Innovations have often taken cheap, plentiful and

healthy ingredients, and processed them into more expensive and less healthy products, that


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provide „added (commercial) value‟, but which have harmed public health. Too many

processed foods are loaded with starches, sugars and fats, dosed with colourings and

flavourings, generating unsustainably risky diets and epidemics of obesity, diabetes and

cancers. The food and agricultural systems in the EU should be re-directed to provide

incentives for the production and consumption of healthier diets, with improved ecological

performance. This can be achieved by institutional innovations, changes in public policies for

innovation and regulation, to provide new incentives for re-directed corporate strategies.

Nutigenomics and nutrigenetics – are they the keys for healthy nutrition Prof. Maria, Koziołkiewcz, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Technical University of Łódź, Poland

The two areas, which are the topic of my lecture, i.e. nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics, are

closely related, but they are not interchangeable. Within nutrigenomics we analyse the

effects of bioactive food components (nutrients and non-nutrients) on gene expression in a

given consument whereas in nutrigenetics we study the effect of genetic variation of in the

human population on dietary response. Nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics can be useful for

better understanding of nutrient-gene interactions and development of personalized nutrition

strategies for optimal health and disease prevention. Several human genes which are linked

to high predisposition to certain diet-related disorders like CVD or high blood pressure, have

been already identified and many more are now being studied in animal and in vitro systems.

Molecular markers linked to these genes can help to design personalised diet tailored to the

needs of an individual consument based upon her/his genotype, nutritional requirements and

other factors (age and gender). It is expected that personalized nutrition will prevents diet-

related chronic diseases. However, despite the great promise, there is still a long way to go

before dietary recommendations based on results of nutrigenomic/nutrigenetic studies.

Summary of the discussion Prof. Dariusz Nowak On the basis of three lectures and relatively intense discussions I would like to summarize the outcomes of the third panel session ‘Nutrition and European population health and well-being’. During last several years we have observed pandemic of obesity and very high incidence of obesity-related disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, some types of cancer like, for example, colon cancer, metabolic syndrome or muscular skeletal dysfunction. These diseases drastically decrease the quality of life and are the main case of deaths. At the same time, they increase extremely the costs of healthcare. There was a comment from the experts that overweightness, besides increasing healthcare expenditures, has other negative effect on economy because overweight or obese employees are less efficient workers and spend much more time on sick leave than employees with normal body weight. Therefore, it is necessary to take action which would reduce obesity rate in the population. Obesity results from the style of life with low physical activity, which prevails nowadays in developed countries, and high-calorie diets rich in fat and carbohydrates. However, overfeeding is not the only factor, which contributes to overweightness and obesity. Recent studies have suggested that some individuals may be genetically predisposed to overweightness. It is predicted that in a near future, with the progress in genome mapping and nutrigenetics, special diets may be tailored for the individuals with inherited predisposition to overweightness. Therefore, more attention could be paid to studies on nutrigenomics. Others argued that the approach should focus on the population rather than on a genetically selected sub-set of individuals. Some speakers emphasized that there are many other factors, like stress, overworking and poor quality of sleep combined with insufficient sleep time, which can result in excessive food


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intake and, in result, overweightness. As one of the experts pointed out, food industry is also partly responsible for unhealthy eating habits. Highly processed foods, poor in bioactive compounds like antioxidants, vitamins and minerals but rich in fat and carbohydrates, are made attractive to consuments by artificial colouring and flavouring. It has been documented that some of the food additives stimulate directly receptors which control the appetite and thus stimulate more food intake than actually needed. A well-known example is monosodium glutamate, a flavour enhancer found in many foods, which has been associated with overweightness. The effect of additives stimulating appetite is especially harmful when such prepared food is addressed to children because it often results in childhood and juvenile obesity. Because of the complexity of the problem and its health, social and economic importance, the extensive studies shall be undertaken on social, behavioural, environmental, biochemical and genetic factors that influence the incidence of overweightness and obesity. Much attention shall also be paid to educating consumers on the importance of healthy nutrition and its impact on their health and life quality, although there is evidence showing that on its own education cannot solve such problems. And this point I would like to present some of my personal thoughts. I looked at the general challenges to food industry and I found what some catchy titles like: “food for life” that comes from European technology platform, “chain integration”, “safe food”” etc. But we neglect the problem of drinking water security and safety, which is even more important than food security. One can live without food much longer than without drinking water, so I think this is even more challenging than the food issue. Then there is smart processing or reverse engineering in which the processes are adapted to the preference, acceptance and the needs of the consumers. There is also a very powerful concept of proper technologies, meaning not always up scaling but adapting the scale to the actual needs. The diversity of the food industry needs diversified processing equipment and scalable, robust technology than they can change from one product to another. Then, there is a concept of open innovation. There is a big discussion among food scientists, but at this point only the large international companies are dealing with it. And we have to find ways how we can bring open innovation to our SMEs. And then food globalization and nutrients security which is a very powerful concept because we all need nutrients and nutrients security may be more important than food security. Research is going to individualization on nutrition, tailored foods and targeted processing and integration of processing packaging. And then something I personal feel very strongly, this is your notion, you mentioned that the gap process extract the function relationship. That means with process, we affect a structure decides the properties of the food material and consequently affect its function, its properties, and then sustainability.

General Conclusions

During the debate the experts concluded that agri-food sector, any will be I predictable

future, an important part od European bioeconomy. It is still a major player on the

international food market, but interdisciplinary approach in research, close cooperation of

science with industry and development of new technologies (inter alia biotechnology,

nanotechnology, nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics) are necessary to maintain its

competitiveness and improve innovativeness. As the priority areas for research and

development for the second decade of 21st Century the experts selected:

Biotechnology, including genetic engineering and „green technologies” in production of food and raw materials for industry,

GMO safety for consumers and the environment; Europewide complain on the benefits and the risks involved,


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Nanotechnology in food and packaging,

Evaluation of potential risks of nanotechnology to consumers and the environment,

Integration of food processing and packaging in one technological chain,

„Inteligent” and safe for the environment (biodegradable) food packages,

Sustainable production under the condition of climate change and rational use of natural resources like soil, water and energy,

Reduction of food wastage,

Food safety,

Fool traceability of products and producers along the whole chain of production, storage and retail,

Reverse engineering – adapting products and process to the preference, acceptance and the needs of the consumers,

Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics as a base for personalised diet tailored to the needs of individual consuments

Social, behavioural, environmental, biochemical and genetic factors influencing the incidence of overweightness and obesity,

Europe-wide campaign to educate consumers on importance of proper nutrition in preventing the diet-related diseases.

.

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