Food for the future.

By 2050, the world population will have increased by an estimated 30% and the average world citizen will more than today live in urbanized environments. Society in general and the food supply chain in particular will face even greater challenges tomorrow than today. To name just three:

1. the increasing prevalence of undernourishment, obesity, metabolic syndrome and associated health diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes) some of which are the result of the increased life expectancy,
2. the increasing (diagnosed) prevalence of food allergies and/or intolerances in many parts of the world, and
3. the continuously changing demands of consumers for innovative and functional food systems to suit their changing lifestyles.

These challenges call for appropriate actions from all stakeholders involved, and, in particular, from the food science and nutrition research community. With this program, the Methusalem group will contribute to providing what it likes to refer to as “Food for the Future” by building on and further expanding its current research capabilities. It will develop a knowledge base and concepts for better use of plant materials and their constituents in the chain from farm to fork as the strategic objective for the program. Starting from the competences of the participating research groups, this will be done by fully mobilizing and further developing basic and applied research capabilities in food technology research. In practice, the pluridisciplinar research program will cover the entire knowledge chain from basic science to application oriented work. It puts forward the following research lines:

• Research Line 1: Food and food constituent concepts for healthy diets and improved health
• Research Line 2: Concepts for functional foods or replacement of food constituents of health concern
• Research Line 3: Food and food ingredient concepts addressing changing consumer demands