CIAA launches consultation on 'Food for Life'

The association, which represents European food and drink industries in Brussels, said that the deadline for receipt of submissions is 1 December.

"The objective of this ETP 'Food for Life' online consultation is to help pinpoint the key challenges for ETP 'Food for Life' going forward vis-a-vis the original Vision Document, by gathering significant and qualitative input from a broad range of experts,"​ said Peter van Bladeren, chairman of the board of ETP 'Food for Life.'

"All this will feed into the creation of the ETP 'Food for Life' Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), due to be published in April 2007. The SRA will define themes and priorities for future research which we strongly suggest to be included in the priorities of the 7th Framework Programme and beyond in the area of food."​

The European Technology Platform on Food for Life, launched by the CIAA last year, is a bid to focus research spending on health, quality, manufacturing, production consumer trends, food safety, supply chain management, communications, training and technology transfer.

The CIAA noted recently that the EU's research efforts have been fragmented and low due, in part, to the composition of the sector with its many small and medium sized businesses.

Food companies in Australia, Japan, Norway and the US all spend relatively more on R&D than the EU.

It was originally launched in Brussels on 5 July 2005, and an initial Stakeholders' Strategic Research Agenda (SSRA) was subsequently developed.

A detailed Implementation Plan will be developed as part of the next step and this will be finalised by December 2007. This Implementation Plan itself will describe the research, training, education and dissemination needed to fulfil the vision and strategy behind ETP 'Food for Life.'

"With regard to the new online web consultation questionnaire, the current ETP SSRA along with the original ETP Vision Document together provide the basis for this consultation,"​ said Jean Martin, CIAA president.

"The web consultation process is open, transparent, balanced and inclusive. It ensures that the extensive consultation process now underway across Europe is objective and will ultimately reflect the interests and opportunities of stakeholders and interested experts."​

CIAA believes that the challenges facing the European agro-food industry, together with the size, nature and regional importance of this industry sector, justify the inclusion of a food ETP amongst the some 25 existing ETPs at various stages of development.

The purpose of the platform is to create a platform for actors at the European level, and is perfectly in tune with the food industry's own drive towards self-regulation.