Establishment and operationalization of a Competence Center for Soil Health and Food Safety – CeSoH, Contract no.: 760005/2022, Code 2, financed through PNRR-III-C9-2022 – I5 (PNRR-National Recovery and Resilience Plan, C9 Support for the private sector, research, development and innovation, I5 Establishment and operationalization of Competence Centers).
Improving soil conservation and resilience by boosting biodiversity and functional security of organic food products
This project is focusing on organic raspberry culture and aim to create a multi-disciplinary approach based on Farm to Fork strategy as a key element of the European Green Deal, targeting to reduce the environmental fingerprint of the food system while strengthening its resilience, ensuring food security, value-added food and low risk technologies, by:
Generating a multidimensional assessment framework service on the soil-plant-fruit-based product chain based on the most promising and innovative analytical techniques, markers, and eco-friendly technological design concepts.
Assuring the market demand for an increased availability of secure and healthy berry-based products, obtained with respect to quality and minimal negative effects on the environment, promoting healthy soils and high levels of biodiversity.
What are the objectives of the project?
Strengthen agroecological
approaches research and innovation that
contribute to sustainable food and farming systems by connecting farmers, small
and medium-sized businesses, large corporations, consumers, and researchers
involved in the ecological value chain from production, input, and supply to
food processing and novel functional foods.
Preventing food fraud and
strengthening consumer and importing companieswith
added confidence in the authenticity and quality of Romanian ecological
raspberry products and newly developed functional foods, by establish at
national level a center dedicated to implement new, precise and powerful
direction for certification systems that use simple but highly effective
indicators that are essential for addressing the increasingly nuanced societal
issues that ecological agriculture is expected to addresses.
Stimulating the conversion and
strengthening the production and processing of BIO foods intended to maintain the health of the population
(functional supplements, food supplements) by investigating the key elements
needed to develop new analytical tools for certification and authentication of
the soil-plant-fruit-product chain and set the strategy of selecting,
collecting and preparing the appropriate test samples for further analytical
investigations; set of a referential product database.
Ensuring
the sustainability of the environment through
highlighting the differences between conventional, agroforestry and ecological
agriculture in terms of contribution to reducing the climate and environmental
footprint, increasing genetic biodiversity and increasing yields; developing
alternatives to contentious inputs and other plant protection products, as well
as more efficient use of resources.
Project partners
PRoEco has 7 partners from 4 National counties, including two research and technical organisations, three universities, and two SME involved in innovation”.
Our initiative seeks to include as many interested parties as possible. The communication project’s approach relies not only on cooperation with the project’s partners, but also upon “Key multipliers.” Under the PRoEco project, they are described as significant (public or private) organisations/associations for the organic fruit industry in Romania that may help the project’s communication and dissemination via their connections/networks. These organizations are a crucial component of the communication plan because they may promote the PRoEco materials to their members, provide support via social media accounts, and disseminate the findings face-to-face at PRoEco events among their members and contacts. Outside the consortium, we collaborate with a variety of sector-relevant organizations to provide a larger reach. Hence, if you are interested in joining our network, please get in touch with us.
Work Plan
The project is built with these Working Packages:
➤ WP 5-1 Scientific and administrative coordination, deepening the necessary knowledge for the organic agricultural practices “domestication” and creating a national Roadmap
WP 5-1 aims to assure project coordination by managing and monitoring the scientific activities. A feasibility study together with a national Roadmap of the existing research infrastructures will be carried out during the first 24 months. W P5-1 will build on pre-existing knowledge already accrued from the establishment of ecological cultures associated organic-based food production systems, in order to improve the quantity, quality and safety of the produced and consumed food; will provide a user-friendly portal with relevant data for food sector stakeholders in Romania. Close monitoring leads to anticipate potential risks and to implement the necessary measures to mitigate them. To reach this goal we prepare:
➤ WP 5-2 Productive and resilient soils by improving the contribution of organic farming for sustainable food production and a healthy environment
The aim of WP5.2 is to develop complex analytical investigations to test the health of the soils for organic agriculture as measures to sustain the long-term fertility of the soil, high levels of biodiversity, a non-toxic and resilient environment and sustainable food provision. To achieve this, our methodology is based on:
➤ WP 5-3 Analytical methodological tools for organic foods certification
Developing complex analytical tools for the certification of organic products in order to increase market transparency, prevent the fraud and strengthening consumer confidence in organic products. Three different activities are in charge of discussing and selecting the best practices and for reaching this, the panels are:
➤ WP 5-4 Technological innovation - organic foods for a healthy population
WP5-4 is dedicated to technological innovation including novel processing technologies and will allow to develop new ingredients to be then used for creating functional foods applications. In particular, innovative and cost-effective processes will be developed by applying green operating technologies. Additionally, WP5-4 covers the evaluation of the health-beneficial properties: compositional, molecular, bioinformatic analyses, anti-nutritional properties and allergenic potential of the high added value molecules. To achieve this, our methodology is based on:
➤ WP 5-5 Dissemination, Communication and Horizon Europe Mission implementation in Romania
WP5-5 is dedicated to results dissemination and interaction with shakeholders, helping to: prepare an optimal market entry; create a sustainable industrial strategy liaison group; ensure that the food/agricultural sector is impacted in a timely manner by the PRoEco findings; extend existing frameworks of understanding in respect of consumer awareness and perspective related to food authenticity and traceability, new functional food products connected to the circular economy; use of new technological advances; develop an integrated consumer assurance protocol framework and toolkit for trust, to assure food quality and traceability throughout the supply chain.
PNRR. Finanțat de Uniunea Europeană – UrmătoareaGenerațieUE
