Quakenbrueck (DIL). Future food should deliver beside good taste and nutritional value a positive effect for the consumer’s health on top. This nutritionists as well as doctors are postulating being confronted with an increasing number of overweighed persons and the resulting alimentary diseases (like diabetes).

To find resp. solutions and to develop concrete products, scientists and technicians join the “Network of agro- and nutritional scientists in Lower Saxony” (FAEN). This federation is coordinated by the German Institute of Food Technologies DIL located at Quakenbrueck/Germany.

In these days the federates met interested members of the food and ingredients industry and service provider at the symposium “Are blue potatoes able to defend from cancer and bread products lower the cholesterol level?” and presented their last results.

The speakers were able to present a lot of interesting and promising results. Like for example several potato varieties with an excellent content of Anthocyane or Tocotrienole or potato protein. These raw materials processed together with other ingredients allow producing specific food products like for example rye-bread or potato chips or margarine, which can supply positive health effects.

So consumers would be able to lower their blood pressure or cholesterol level or defend from specific cancer by having a classical diet. For a few materials and products concrete human studies are carried out currently. Pilot studies showed promising results.

Specifically the small and medium sized food industry normally is not able to develop such innovative concepts. This is the reason why functional foods have been developed and marketed exclusively by international affiliated groups up to now.

By this alliance of leading European research institutes with processing companies and service providers forming the FAEN Network, it is even for small and medium sized companies possible to create and sell such specific food products and to improve their position in this very competitive European food market.

Up to now many companies didn’t touch those projects due to the specific requirements of the European Regulation on nutritional and health claims made on food. Especially this symposium has demonstrated that as a member of this network it is possible to execute human medical studies as well as develop legally accepted health claims.

Intensive discussions during and after the meeting of the more than one hundred participants showed how up-to-date and inspiring this sector is.

For more information please contact www.verbundprojekt1-faen.de.