Following the first call for proposals under the 'Food quality and safety' priority of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), Brussels opted to fund 24 research projects and 12 specific support actions, as well as three additional actions for associated candidate countries.
The Commission has now published a catalogue entitled 'Food quality and safety in Europe', providing interested parties with details of all the 39 EU supported initiatives including, a one page summary of the project, list of participants, contact details and web addresses.
The catalogue also contains a general introduction of the food quality and safety priority, its scope and objectives, details of how to participate, and links to other sources of information.
In June this year the European Commission used an international food conference to announce its readiness to award €192 million to new food-related research projects and networks.
At a meeting organised by the Irish Presidency the Commission said the funding will go to 31 projects and networks and 13 smaller support actions. Among the subjects tackled by ten Integrated Projects will be chemical contaminant screening in food, obesity, traceability in food, nutrition in early life, food allergy and emerging pathogens.
The two Networks of Excellence selected for EU support will address food information, and cancer risk from nutrition and the environment. Smaller projects, known as specific targeted research projects (STREPs) will tackle such topics as animal diseases, biotoxins in seafood, flavonoids, reducing and recycling food production wastes and nutrition during adolescence. Four Coordination Actions and 13 Specific Support Actions will also receive funding.
A total of 185 proposals were submitted to the Commission and 141 were rejected for funding. According to CORDIS, the funding success rate - just 23.7 per cent - was kept low by budgetary constraints, making it impossible to fund some 'very good' proposals, said the Commission.
Announcing his new 25 Commission member team, José Barroso, President-designate of the European Commission, said on Friday that the Danish candidate Mariann Fischer Boel will take over the role of Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner from outgoing Franz Fischler, to come into effect on 1 November 2004. Cypriot Markos Kyprianou takes the post of Health and Consumers Protection Commissioner from David Byrne.