FOODRUS Final Event: Revealing Innovation, Collaboration, and Sustainable Solutions for Future Food Systems

Food stakeholders gather in Brussels for the final event of the EU-funded projects’ FOODRUS and CO-FRESH

Press Release | Brussels | 13 March 2024

The partners of the FOODRUS and CO-FRESH projects held their final events in Brussels this week, exploring and discussing their results, innovative solutions, and collaborative efforts that will shape the future of food systems.

“Apart from the results obtained in the FOODRUS project itself, the close cooperation with other EU funded projects in the field has allow the sharing of knowledge, experience and lessons learned spreading the results across Europe and joining efforts to develop the best recommendations to EU policies for shaping the future of sustainable food systems.”

Ainhoa Alonso, FOODRUS Coordinator from the University of Deusto

The highlights of the conference included:

Innovative Solutions Addressing Food Waste and Loss

The FOODRUS project tackled challenges related to food losses and waste by testing 23 circular solutions through diverse forms of collaborative innovation, including: technological (blockchain solutions to manage food losses and waste), social (educational materials and citizen science activities to promote sustainable consumption habits), organisational (last mile networks to foster local consumption and donation), and fiscal (new ‘Pay As You Throw’ schemes).

During the Conference the Danish, Spanish and Slovak pilots showcased the most relevant solutions developed and tested in their territories. In addition, the FOODRUS Associated regions – including Project Wasteless operated by the National Food Chain Safety Office of Hungary – presented the challenges and opportunities of being involved in the project.

Policy Recommendations Shaping the Future of Sustainable Food Systems

Representatives from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety provided attendees with insightful information about the ambition of the Farm to Fork Strategy and a forward-looking perspective for future opportunities to keep working on food loss, waste and safety actions.

A joint policy session was held within the CO-FRESH event, where FOODRUS partner ACR+ described the barriers identified to tackle food loss and waste in Europe, and the most relevant recommendations to overcome them.

Insights into Co-Creation Methodologies

BCC Innovation, technological center in gastronomy of Basque Culinary Center presented how co-creation activities and methods are essential in collaborative EU projects, describing how the FOODRUS project brought together a diverse group of people, like researchers, industry experts, and citizens, to work together, and shared some lessons learned and challenges faced.

Collaboration highlights with sister projects

The Final Conference gathered all the active sister projects funded in the same funding call – CO-FRESH, LOWINFOOD and FAIRCHAIN – to discuss the successful collaborations developed and maintained in terms of research, innovation, communication and dissemination activities.

The Final Conference was livestreamed on the FOODRUS YouTube Channel and can be watched back here. All the slides from the event will be made available on the project website.