Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

European Policy for Food Safety Research and Horizon 2020

Similar presentations


Presentation on theme: "European Policy for Food Safety Research and Horizon 2020"— Presentation transcript:

1 European Policy for Food Safety Research and Horizon 2020
C4S Regional Workshop Moscow 18 March 2014 Dirk POTTIER Scientific officer Unit F.3 – Agri-Food chain Directorate F – Biotechnology Directorate-General for Research and Innovation European Commission

2 Key messages Guaranteeing food safety along the food supply chain, from primary production to consumers, means dealing with multiple challenges The complexity of these challenges has to be addressed through scientific research and research policy that will generate new knowledge and promote its innovative use to deliver new technologies and solutions Adopt an inter-disciplinary approach, with emphasis on the social sciences and humanities in order to make innovation accepted by the consumer and citizen The presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

3 Food System and the EU Climate change
Climate change in particular underlines the need for a long-term, ecosystem-based approach. Not only will habitats and species be affected directly by climate change and sea level rise but they will also be affected by policy and behavioural shifts in sectors such as agriculture, water, transport and energy. A holistic, multidisciplinary and innovative approach is needed on a global scale. AEA Energy & Environment and Universidad de Politécnica de Madrid Report to European Commission Directorate - General for Agriculture and Rural Development Biodiversity (from European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity) More than 80 % of assessments for amphibians linked to agro‑ecosystems are unfavourable. • Mammals and invertebrates are the only species groups with favourable assessments (less than 10 %). • Plants and mammals have the highest percentage of unknown assessments. Land use From SCAR Over the coming decades, land as a global resource will become a source of increased competition from a range of different potential uses. In a recent paper, Harvey and Pilgrim (2011) review the increasing competition for land from in the framework of the ‘food, energy and environment trilemma’ (Tilman et al., 2009), where all demands to expand the area of cultivated land represent high risks of increasing agriculture’s carbon footprint. In this model, competition for land use in the coming decades is seen as being driven by the objectives of delivering food and energy/raw materials in a post-fossil carbon economy. The authors conclude that the dual challenge of delivering both food and energy, and doing so in a sustainable manner, calls for a “combined new green and bioeconomy revolution. The political shaping of this process will require both sustainability regulation and strongly directed innovation, delivering the means to achieve the ends (Harvey and Pilgrim, 2011). Additional: We have attempted to explore the dynamics of competition for land, and identify some of the principal issues at stake for future sustainability of land use. Based on the model represented in Fig. 1, competition for land use in the coming decades was seen as being driven by two major objectives in achieving sustainable economic growth: the delivery of food and energy/materials in a post-fossil carbon economy. The paper has systematically attended to each of the elements of a complex interaction: growing and changing demand for food; demand for energy and materials derived from biomass in the context of oil depletion; GHG emissions from current agricultural practices and land-use change; and climate change itself as a constraint on land available for cultivation at high levels of productivity. The scale of the challenges was examined, as was the significance of current patterns of land-use in contributing to global warming. The growth of agricultural production cannot continue on current lines and practices without risking major crises, given its significance as a source of greenhouse gases. A key element of future development will be to meet increasing demands on land by intensification of low-carbon gas emitting agriculture, by all technological means possible. The growth in demand for food (arising from the need to ‘feed the 9 billion’ and improve standards of nutrition) has been taken as given, resting on arguments and analysis more thoroughly developed elsewhere (IAASTD, 2009; Royal Society, 2009; Godfray et al., 2010; DEFRA, 2009b). In exploring the demand for land driven by biofuels and biomaterials, evidence was presented that suggests the need for a major shift in policy understanding of innovation. The shift to bioeconomy alternatives to petro-chemical technologies requires a pro-active, long-term, strategic political direction, promoting innovation from the basic science through to the delivery of goods. The broader challenge to deliver both food and energy calls for a combined new green and bioeconomy revolution. The political shaping of this process will require both sustainability regulation and strongly directed innovation, delivering the means to achieve the ends. The shift to a bioeconomy and sustainable agriculture involves a paradigm change from the petro-chemical technological model of the world that has characterised the previous epoch. Land, water and climate as a global resource provides different regions with widely contrasted agricultural potentials. The shift to sustainable agriculture for food and energy is likely to re-shape the geopolitical environment of the world. Flows of food and energy/materials will be re-drawn, and different regions will pursue different innovation pathways as a consequence of their diverse political objectives and natural endowments. In sum, two broad conclusions can be drawn from this paper. Firstly, however uncomfortable and challenging, mitigating the competition for land can only occur provided that the complexity of the dynamics is fully addressed. Each of the contributing factors explored above (energy and food demand; petro-chemical depletion; the various sources of anthropogenic climate change involved in land use) cannot be treated in isolation. Secondly, recent history and current developments strongly underscore the importance of long term political strategy driving forward the shift to a sustainable intensification of land use, combining regulation with effective long term, but urgent, promotion of science and innovation to deliver the goals of sustainability. More info: The EIS recognises three big evidence challenges for Defra, government and society: — Sustainable food supply: fair prices, choice, access to food and food security through open and competitive markets; continuous improvement in the safety of food; a transition to healthier diets; and a more environmentally sustainable food chain. — Climate change adaptation and mitigation: climate change cuts across almost all of Defra's policy responsibilities, including farming and food, animal and plant diseases, ecosystems, water management, floods and conservation. — Protecting ecosystem services: the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment not only recognised the multiple benefits that ecological systems provide but also highlighted that policy and planning decisions must take into account an ecosystems approach to be truly sustainable.   The big challenges are intertwined: food production affects and is affected by ecosystem services and climate change (both mitigation and adaptation).   The CSA and his team have worked with policy and specialist teams across Defra to categorise programmes by their evidence needs, as well as external stakeholders across government and in the private sector. The EIS shows the clear priorities for Defra's evidence spend and provides the basis for managing competing demands in tough economic times. The EIS' Objectives   Defra needs to change its approach to evidence and innovation in order to meet the Department's demanding policy objectives in the context of an increasingly difficult economic climate. The EIS identifies five strategic areas Defra needs to focus on to deliver such a significant change: — prioritise investments between programmes; — sharpen the Department's focus to deliver our evidence and innovation where we need it most; — increase co-operation using partnership working with other government departments and research councils to share the investments, knowledge and expertise; — develop and organise the right skills, expertise and capabilities; and — refine our processes, eg, integration of evidence throughout the business cycle.   The EIS identifies a number of practical ways Defra can deliver each of these objectives. It also recognises that the big challenges will require a focus on interdisciplinary working, understanding and influencing behaviours, and innovation. What next?   The next stage is implementation where working together with partners will be key. The recommendations will be delivered by the Evidence Programme, areas across Defra and organisations such as the Research Councils, other government departments and non-governmental organisations. Since the publication of the EIS the Evidence Programme has been working within Defra to develop detailed implementation plans including key milestones and performance indicators. Defra will provide regular updates on its website as the work progresses. Food waste Around 90 million tonnes of food waste are generated in the EU each year The principle source of data on food waste generation was EUROSTAT, which provides data for Manufacturing, Household and ‘Other Sectors’ for all MS with few exceptions. An estimate of food waste for these three sectors is presented by MS using both EUROSTAT and available national data. The base year is presented as 2006, the year for which the most recent EUROSTAT data is available. On this basis, the study estimates annual food waste generation in the EU27 at approximately 89Mt, or 179kg per capita (please see below table). Certain national studies covered retail and food service sector food waste, providing more detail than EUROSTAT’s ‘Other Sectors’. A further estimate of food waste was then made, breaking down food waste by Manufacturing, Household, Retail and Food Service sector data. This approximate percentage breakdown is presented below, and more detail can be found on page 63 of the report. Please bear in mind that agricultural food waste was not included in the scope of this study. This breakdown is not intended to draw a comparison between household and manufacturing sector data, as the reliability of estimates for certain sectors differs. A crosssector comparison would be more instructive when data available for all sectors is considered more robust. Households produce the largest fraction of EU food waste among the four sectors considered, at about 42% of the total or about 38Mt, an average of about 76kg per capita. Manufacturing food waste was estimated at almost 35 Mt per year in the EU27 (70kg per capita), although a lack of clarity over the definition of food waste (particularly as distinct from by-products) among MS makes this estimate fragile. Once again, the main estimate of this study relies more heavily on EUROSTAT data to estimate manufacturing, household and ‘other sector’ food waste. A further estimate on the breakdown between retail and food service sector food waste (in place of ‘other sectors’) relies more heavily on extrapolations, at times from a limited number of sources. According to this further estimate, the following sectoral detail can be presented: Wholesale/Retail sector: close to 8kg per capita (with an important discrepancy between MS) representing around 4.4 Mt for the EU27 Food Service sector: an average of 25kg per capita for EU27, at 12.3 Mt for the EU27 overall. There is a notable divergence between the EU15 at 28kg per capita (due to a higher trend of food waste in the restaurant and catering sector) and 12kg per capita in EU12. Food which ends up as being discarded by households represents 25% of food purchased (by weight), according to studies completed by WRAP. For the UK, the avoidable portion of this food waste represents a total annual loss per household of approximately £480 or 565 Euros1. Important limitations accompany this work of quantification, resulting from the variable reliability of EUROSTAT and national data. Methodologies for collecting and calculating the food waste data submitted to EUROSTAT differs between MS, who are free to choose their own methodology. Limitations in the reliability of EUROSTAT data, due to a lack of clarity on the definition and methodology, may be significant. Implications may involve the inclusion of by-products, green waste or tobacco in the data disclosed in some instances. Additionally, data is missing for some sectors in some MS, and the ‘Other Sectors’ category is too broad to give a clear insight into the Wholesale/Retail and Food Service sectors. It was not possible to confirm that by-products were not included in some instances in Manufacturing sector data. These issues have been ameliorated using national studies, plausibility checks and informed assumptions as far as possible in an effort to present the best available data; however, these limitations nevertheless present an important issue for data reliability. Food waste data is synthesised in table on page 12 for each MS in manufacturing, household and ‘other sectors’; please see table 12 on page 62 of the main report for the sources or assumptions used. As such, in the European Union, for example, 42% of total food waste is generated by households; 39% by the production and processing sector, 14% by the food service and catering sector, and 5% by the retail/wholesale sector (European Commission, 2010). From FUSIONS: • About 90 million tonnes of food is wasted annually or 180 kg per capita per year in Europe, excluding agricultural food waste and fish discards • About a third of the food for human consumption is wasted globally - around 1.3 billion tons per year, according to FAO • A third of the world's entire food supply could be saved by reducing waste – or enough to feed 3 billion people; and this would still leave enough surplus for countries to provide their populations with 130 per cent of their nutritional requirements • 4600 kilocalories per day of food are harvested for every person on the planet; of these, only around 2000 on average are eaten – more than half of it is lost on the way The presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission Source: “Food 2030”, DEFRA, 2009

4 Priorities of EU Funded Food Safety Research:
EU research Food safety Priorities of EU Funded Food Safety Research: Promote innovation and provide answers to future challenges to support societal change Scientific support for regulatory aspects and policy making Explore new opportunities for research Assuring chemical and biological safety and improving quality in the European food supply This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

5 The new way forward HORIZON 2020 What is Horizon 2020 What is New
Research and Innovation programme of the European Commission for a 79 billion euro ( ) WP 2014 – 2015 has been approved and first call launched What is New Seamless integration of different strands of R&I into one single programme Research Closer to the market Innovation Overarching – cross-thematic approach Three Priorities Excellent science Industrial leadership Societal challenges This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

6 Consumption Production Food Chain Global drivers
Societal Challenge 2 Food security, sustainable agriculture, marine and maritime research and the bioeconomy Proposed Funding: 4 million euro Sustainability Security, resilience Consumption Production 2.1 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry 2.2 Sustainable and competitive agri-food sector for safe and healthy diets Food Chain 2.3 Unlocking the potential of aquatic living resources 2.4 Sustainable and competitive bio-based industries Global drivers This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

7 Informed Consumer Choices
HORIZON 2020 2.2 Sustainable and competitive agri-food sector for safe and healthy diets Informed Consumer Choices Preferences, attitudes, needs, behaviour, lifestyle and education Communication between consumers and the food chain research community and its operators Impact on diet related diseases (obesity, anorexia) Social Innovation Innovative models and methodologies Sustainable eating behaviour This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

8 HORIZON 2020 2.2 Sustainable and competitive agri-food sector for safe and healthy diets Safe diets Chemical and biological hazards throughout the total food, feed and drinking water supply chains Risk and exposure assessment Monitoring Control Tracing Development of improved food safety standards This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

9 Address critical issues: Address the sustainability concerns:
HORIZON 2020 2.2 Sustainable and competitive agri-food sector for safe and healthy diets Agri-food industry Include all stages: Food design Packaging Process design and control Waste reduction and by-product valorisation Address critical issues: Affordable and high quality foods Traceability Logistics and services Socio-economic factors Resilience against environmental and climate risks Limitation of negative impacts on the environment Address the sustainability concerns: Coping with social, environmental, and economic change This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

10 SC2: Sustainable Food Security Call
1. Sustainable food production systems SFS /2015: Sustainable terrestrial livestock production SFS /2015: Sustainable crop production SFS /2015: Resource-efficient eco-innovative food production and processing SFS : Towards a gradual elimination of discards in European fisheries 2. Safe food and healthy diets and sustainable consumption SFS : Assessing the health risks of combined human exposure to multiple food-related toxic substances SFS : Biological contamination of crops and the food chain SFS /2015: Authentication of food products SFS : Proteins of the future SFS : Tackling malnutrition in the elderly SFS : Innovative solutions for sustainable novel food processing 3. Global drivers of food security SFS : Sustainable food and nutrition security through evidence based EU agro-food policies Examples of topics: SFS Call – Details: 1. Sustainable food production systems SFS /2015: Sustainable terrestrial livestock production SFS /2015: Sustainable crop production SFS /2015: Resource-efficient eco-innovative food production and processing SFS : Towards a gradual elimination of discards in European fisheries 2. Safe food and healthy diets and sustainable consumption SFS : Assessing the health risks of combined human exposure to multiple food-related toxic substances SFS : Biological contamination of crops and the food chain SFS /2015: Authentication of food products SFS : Proteins of the future SFS : Tackling malnutrition in the elderly SFS : Innovative solutions for sustainable novel food processing 3. Global drivers of food security SFS : Sustainable food and nutrition security through evidence based EU agro-food policies The presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

11 Conclusions Through policy interaction, coherent investment in research and innovation and stakeholder engagement: Europe is and will be open for business and international cooperation and offers attractive research career opportunities Improve the desired resilience, sustainability and productivity of the agro-food supply chain Continue to reinforce safety along the food feed and drinking water supply chains Guarantee food security for European citizens and worldwide This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission 11

12 Next Steps Fine-tuning of WP 2014-2015 (bi-annual work programme)
End of 2014: launch of second call More info on Horizon 2020 at: More info on the Bioeconomy at: This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission

13 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
This presentation shall neither be binding nor construed as constituting commitment by the European Commission 13


Download ppt "European Policy for Food Safety Research and Horizon 2020"

Similar presentations


Ads by Google