EASTWESTFOOD

Food Research Exchange Programme between India and Europe

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'EASTWESTFOOD is an exchange programme between the Centre for Advanced Food Studies (LMC), Denmark (P1); Wageningen University, the Netherlands (P2); Centre for Biotechnology, Anna University, India (P3), Banaras Hindu University, India (P4), and the Copenhagen Business School (P5). The overall aim is to strengthen research in India and Europe within the food related sciences. This will be done by setting up a collaborative exchange programme for experienced and early stage-researchers with mutual benefits for all Participants. EASTWESTFOOD contains joint activities which will increase the sharing of knowledge between research groups in the East and West. It will improve research training through joint courses and it will build up a long-term cooperation between the Participants. The joint activities in EASTWESTFOOD will take place within four areas of collaboration, organized in four work packages: 1) Healthy Diets in East and West, 2) Dairy Technology, 3) Metabolic Engineering and 4) Business Economics and Entrepeneurship. The research areas are highly relevant for the development of high quality healthy foods in the future and will benefit from the synergy arising from the complementary expertise of the Participants. A collaboration between Europe and India is becoming increasingly important as a result of the globalized food market and the rapid growth of the Indian economy. The added benefits for the European participants arise from the gained knowledge on Indian food culture, indigenous dairy products, healthy plant-based food, metabolic engineering with regard to food production as well as insight into the Indian business market. The collaboration on research and research training in these fields will simultaneously be very valuable for development of the food industry in India and support new research projects and research training at the Indian Partner universities. EASTWESTFOOD will also promote intra-European integration between LMC, CBS and Wageningen University.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Improving food quality for all European residents is a priority for the scientific community. An EU-funded project contributed to this goal by building a collaboration between Europe and India related to the food sciences.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The project 'Food research exchange programme between India and Europe (EASTWESTFOOD) aimed to strengthen the research capacity in India and Europe. This goal was accomplished through an exchange programme between two institutions in Denmark, two in India and one in the Netherlands. The programme's focus was on research training for early-stage and experienced scientists. The fields of interest were healthy diets, dairy technology and metabolic engineering.

European researchers benefited from building their knowledge of Indian food culture, indigenous Indian dairy products, and plant-based Indian foods and food extracts. In turn, the Indian partners from Banaras Hindu University were trained in designing and running experiments for high-tech dairy plants. Their goals were to increase the shelf-life and health benefits of traditional products. Researchers from Anna University actively participated in planning and teaching of joint PhD courses focusing on different food cultures, health and innovation in food science.

By training early-stage researchers, scientists from both Europe and India have supported the development of the food industry. The trained researchers are now positioned to help market existing and new European-designed products. The project also built a foundation for continued collaboration.

EASTWESTFOOD made other significant contributions. The trained researchers will be able to develop food products for the Indian public that are healthier and have a long shelf-life. In Europe, interaction with Indian researchers improved knowledge of traditional Indian foods, forming the basis for introducing foods with an 'Indian touch' to the European market.

Overall, the project has made European and Indian researchers more aware of health-related issues that can arise from eating different foods. An additional project benefit was the focus on innovation, which has increased the probability that scientific achievements will reach the general public and improve its quality of life.