The event was filled by very interesting key notes regarding Food Design and Engineering, Healthy Food Design, Food Packaging Logistics and Culinary Innovation and New Product Development. The day began with a warm message from Barbara Rega, FIPDes coordinator, who gave start of the conferences by welcoming Guillaume Roux with the topic, “The challenges of the ecological transition”. It was a very enlightening keynote, where it was shared which are the bigger obstacles regarding sustainability and it settled a common base for all the attendees.

Following the sustainability keynote, started the session 1 dedicated to Food Design and Engineering carried by Marwen Moussa from AgroParisTech. Svenja Krause from Oatly, Sweden shared her research about new plant-based ingredients and its impact in the organoleptic characteristics of the final product, topic in which she made her PhD thesis. Rohit Srivastava from Algama, France surprised the audience with his keynote in Future Food, designing the texture of products with plant-based or more sustainable alternatives to the current products. Both speakers gave a lot to talk about in the later coffee break.

Afterwards, Paola Vitaglione from UNINA, Italy welcomed the speakers from the Healthy Food Design Session. In which, Chris Gill from Ulster University, UK shared his research on ileostomates and the gut. In this keynote, the researcher explained how it is hard to determine the bioavailability of some compounds in the final user, since experiments in rats or pigs are not the same as the digestic tract of human beings. However, he showed the audience his research in which he could measure the recovery of anthocyanins content in ileal fluid in patients with ileostomy, being able to determine its percentage of intake. Following Gill’s inspiring keynote, Nicoletta Virgilio from Rousselot BV, Belgium showed a more industrial side of healthy food design, presenting bioactive collagen peptides, its effect on the health and product applications such as sport nutrition, cereal bars, etc. Both conferences were very enriching and interesting.

At lunch, the attendees had time to discuss the previous topics with the keynote speakers and colleagues. A great environment for networking was set, while everyone got to enjoy the delicious menu catered.

In the third session, Food Packaging Design and Logistics, Erik Andersson from Lund University, Sweden, welcomed to the stage Stina Andrén from Kiviks Musteri AB, Sweden to share the sustainability perspective in industrial packaging. Topics such as materials, consumer needs, energy consumption and recyclability where discussed. To finalize this session, Hannes Van Lunteren from Krinova Incubator & Science Park, Sweden – shared and inspiring keynote in entrepreneurship at Krinova.

Finally, Anna Cruickshank introduced the last session, Culinary Innovation and New Product Development. A very interesting start-up, Gourmey, was presented by Natalija Kozarevska. This business is innovating the meat industry with cell-based meat technology, giving the consumer a much more sustainable option while preserving the product characteristics. Now its start product is Foie Gras. They hope to be able to sell cell-based meat in the next two to three years once the regulation is settled.

After these amazing keynotes, a round table with alumni from previous cohorts was held, in which they gave their most valuable advice to the current FIPDes students.

To finalize, a networking cocktail was held to continue further discussing all the amazing topics seen in the conferences. It was truly an enriching day for all attendees, as Iuliia Ishunkina from cohort 11 reflected, “FIPDes Day with industrial partners and scientists gave clear representation about main points of food industry nowadays. Networking with industrial partners helped us to realize potential career goals and to see industry from the side of employees. We also built relationships between the new students and got to know each other better, which is very important since our education will focus on teamwork. Thank you FIPDes team for this cosy and warm reception!”

Download the programme here: