Does competition work? It can certainly encourage us to raise our game.
I’m looking forward to a competition being launched next week – one co-funded by the FSA and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). The TSB’s competition‘Nutrition for Life – Providing Safe and Healthy Food’ will fund collaborative research and development projects and smaller feasibility studies aimed at providing safe and healthy foods.
The Agency will consider co-funding successful, innovative projects in the research call, if they fall within our strategic priorities.
Of particular interest to the Agency are the following areas, as set out in the ‘food safety, authenticity and traceability’ section of the scope of requirements:
· identification of the presence or levels of pathogens, contaminants or allergens
· implementing processing methods throughout the food chain to improve quality assurance, so reducing adverse effects or health risks to the consumer
· enabling quick and reliable determination of products or ingredients, country of origin, method of production, or the presence of adulterants or substituted or undeclared ingredients
· enabling efficient and robust tracking and monitoring of food, feed, food-producing animals or substances intended for consumption
The FSA has earmarked £0.5 million from its Strategic Challenge Programme for co-funding this call. However, more funds could be made available if a large number of good quality projects of interest are received.
To apply for this competition, being launched officially on Tuesday 21 May, you must first register with the TSB (which you can do at the link above).