Sustainable food security - INTAQT
Introduction
Project description
Agri-food chain actors lack objective, robust and reliable information to meet consumer expectations in relation to the multiple aspects of intrinsic quality of livestock products from the various European husbandry systems. The goal of INTAQT project is to perform an in-depth multi-criteria assessment of the relationships between husbandry systems and intrinsic quality traits of animal-sourced products. This will be achieved through the development of quality assessment and authentication tools, to provide science-based decision support for policy makers, industries, farmers and consumers as well as develop means to improve husbandry practices complying with high quality of animal products and sustainability of production, defined as the "One Quality" of products. INTAQT will focus on unprocessed and processed ready-to-eat chicken meat, beef, and dairy products stemming from a gradient of extensive to intensive husbandry systems from a wide variety of European countries. The project will use a multi-actor participatory approach, involving all actors of the agri-food chains from farmers to consumers, scientists, certification bodies, policy makers and citizens.
Objectives
Scientific objectives:
- Undertake a comprehensive assessment of the safety, nutritional value and sensory features of unprocessed and processed ready-to-eat chicken meat, beef and dairy products originating from a gradient from extensive to intensive husbandry systems.
- Understand and model the relationships between husbandry systems for chicken meat, beef and dairy products and quality traits assessed by various European consumer groups.
Technological objectives: - Co-construct and test with food chain actors, innovative and practical analytical prediction tools and methodologies to assess the most relevant quality traits of chicken meat, beef and dairy products.
- Co-construct and test with food chain actors, innovative and practical analytical tools and methodologies enabling authentication along the food chain of the husbandry systems.
- Co-construct and test with food chain actors and consumers, multi-criteria scoring tools of the intrinsic quality of chicken meat, beef and dairy products, and which can be used as a decision support tool for the agri-food actors for the benefit of consumers.
Socio-economic objectives:
- Propose husbandry practices co-designed with food chain actors, advisors, consumers and policy makers that optimize synergies and trade-offs between the intrinsic quality of chicken meat, beef and dairy products on the one hand, and the sustainability and acceptability of husbandry systems on the other hand.
- Provide knowledge and technological tools usable by food chain actors and certification bodies to predict and improve the quality as well as certify the authenticity of chicken meat, beef and dairy products.
- To better inform consumers and citizens about the influence of husbandry systems on intrinsic quality of chicken meat, beef and dairy products and empower them to make informed choices based on an accessible objective evaluation of the intrinsic quality of products and sustainability of the husbandry systems they originate from.
Role of Ghent University
UGENT is involved in several work packages and has the lead in several tasks. UGENT is responsible for assembling data on the nutritional value of milk, beef and chicken samples collected, and for conducting specific analyses in this respect. UGENT will also lead a task on the statistical modelling of the relationships between farming systems and husbandry practices on the one hand and intrinsic product quality traits (safety, nutritional value and sensory features) of milk, beef and chicken on the other hand.
Website
[to be announced]
Contact
Prof. Stefaan De Smet
Department of Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology
Phone number: ++32 9 264 90 03
E-mail