NRRP intervention area: Mission 4 – Education and Research
Component: 2 - From research to business
Investment: 1.3 - Extended partnerships with universities, research centres, businesses and research project funding
Duration: the project will end on 31/12/2025
Total project funding: €114,500,000
Proposer: Università degli Studi di Parma
From food science to economics, from medicine to logistics: 26 public and private interdisciplinary research organizations working on food
The objectives of the project are:
- promote sustainable food production and propose innovative strategies to reduce vulnerability and ensure food security for all
- encourage the adoption of more sustainable dietary and nutritional patterns, promoting healthy, diverse, and balanced diets, with particular attention to vulnerable groups
- promote resilient and efficient food supply chains that reduce food waste and loss and ensure improve global food security
- improve the quality of food, diets and nutrition by promoting a better understanding of individual and collective nutritional needs and developing new and improved food products
- develop smart and innovative technologies for sustainable food production and consumption to minimize waste and inefficiencies.
- ensure food and nutrition security for the entire population, especially the most vulnerable groups
Project structure and participation
Foundation Composition
Universities and research institutes
- Università degli Studi di Parma
- Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
- Libera Università di Bolzano
- Politecnico di Milano
- Sapienza Università di Roma
- Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro"
- Università degli Studi di Catania
- Università degli Studi di Milano
- Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca
- Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II"
- Università degli Studi di Pavia
- Università degli Pisa
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics) - CREA
- Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile - ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development)
Private actors
- Fondazione Edmund Mach
- Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
- Tecnoalimenti S.C.p.A.
- Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A.
- Bolton Food S.p.A.
- Cirfood Sc
- De' Longhi Appliances S.r.l.
- Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed S.p.A.
- Sacco S.r.l.
Areas of action
- Spoke 1 - Global sustainability: A fair food market for healthy citizens (leader: Università degli Studi di Parma)
- Spoke 2 - Smart and circular food systems and distribution: Enhancing food waste valorization and efficient logistics (leader: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Spoke 3 - Food safety of traditional and novel foods. Food quality and nutrition: Ensuring safe food innovation (leader: Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro")
- Spoke 4 - Food quality and nutrition: Towards sustainable and personalized nutrition (leader: Università degli Studi di Milano)
- Spoke 5 - Lifelong nutrition: A healthy diet for all (leader: Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II")
- Spoke 6 - Tackling malnutrition: Restoring resilience and overcoming malnutrition (leader: Università degli Studi di Pavia)
- Spoke 7 - Policies, behaviors, and education: Smarter choices for healthier diets (leader: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna)
The University of Bologna participates in Spoke 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. It is the coordinator for spoke 7.
Project team
University of Bologna participants
Scientific coordinator
Professor Matteo Vittuari
Teaching and research staff
- Riccardo Accorsi
- Giovanni Barbara
- Alessandra Bendini
- Alessandra Bordoni
- Patrizia Brigidi
- Sara Capacci
- Francesco Capozzi
- Chiara Cevoli
- Arrigo Francesco Giuseppe Cicero
- Marco Dalla Rosa
- Francesca Danesi
- Luca Falasconi
- Flaminia Fanelli
- Alessandra Gambineri
- Fausto Gardini
- Matteo Gherardi
- Sara Gostoli
- Giovanna Guerzoni
- Rosalba Lanciotti
- Arianna Lazzari
- Riccardo Manzini
- Mario Mazzocchi
- Pietro Rocculi
- Santina Romani
- Andrea Segrè
- Elena Tomba
- Luca Trapin
- Urszula Tylewicz
- Lucia Vannini
- Matteo Vittuari
Staff hired with project funds
Researchers
- Fulvia Antonelli
- Monica Barone
- Enrico Casadei
- Antonio Cervone
- Chiara Dalledonne Vandini
- Silvia De Nicolò
- Gianluca Di Egidio
- Matteo Masotti
- Carlo Mengucci
- Frederique Pasquali
- Vito Sansone
- Lucia Tecuta
- Matilde Tura
- Guido Zavatta
Staff with a research fellowship
- Cecilia Gallotti
- Marco Ricci
- Michele Ronzoni
- Gabriele Sirri
PhD students
- Solidea Amadei
- Elton Dajti
- Edoardo Del Conte
- Giulia Noemi Dicorato
- Marina Giovannini
- Elena Lo Dato
- Giulia Oliveti
- Caterina Rettore
- Giulia Salvatori
- Giovanni Selva
- Fatemeh Shanbehzadeh
- Francesco Tomelleri
Departments involved
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences - DIMEC
- Department of Industrial Engineering - DIN
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences – DISTAL
- Department of Education Studies "Giovanni Maria Bertin" - EDU
- Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari" - PSI
- Department of Statistical Sciences "Paolo Fortunati" – STAT
Work carried out by the university research teams in this project involved:
- the implementation of new technologies to improve the sustainability of agri-food supply chains, including the reduction of food waste
- the study of models to promote the consumption of healthy and sustainable diets, with a focus on reducing meat consumption and increasing vegetable protein consumption
- analysing the composition of food products sold in Italy, in order to assess their nutritional quality and improve their formulation
- assessing the applicability and safety of novel foods within the food system.
- developing behavioral interventions to promote healthier and more sustainable diets, with a focus on collective catering.
- analyzing existing policies to provide recommendations that support sustainable diets
The promotion of healthy and sustainable diets based on an analysis of current needs
Researchers at the University of Bologna are currently:
- conducting research to develop educational and information resources to promote healthy and sustainable diets, especially among young people, by providing guidelines and policy suggestions for schools and school canteens.
- investigating the factors influencing food waste generation and designing interventions to reduce it
- studying the psychological factors that impact the transition to more sustainable and healthy diets
- mapping current dietary patterns in Italy, analysing population needs based on gender and age to determine actual dietary requirements.
- enhancing the valorisation of by-products and food waste through the extraction of bioactive compounds.
- developing a digital twin to monitor and simulate the entire life cycle of food and packaging in the catering supply chain.
- creating innovative, bio-based, and sustainable packaging solutions.
- extending food shelf-life through fermentation technologies.
- evaluating the intestinal effects of food consumption, including microbiota modulation.
- using molecular biomarkers to assess the nutritional status of the Italian population.
