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HEDoctoral network2023–2026

SERENADE · Sensors and Eco-fRiendly food-grade matErials for a sustaiNable and smArt fooD storagE and quality monitoring

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2023-01-01 → 2026-12-31
EU contribution
€1,761,128
Participants
11
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-DN-ID

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners. CORDIS does not always give exact coordinates for projects before 2014. These points are placed at city or country level.

Results in brief

Sensors and Eco-fRiendly food-grade matErials for a sustaiNable and smArt fooD storagE and quality monitoring

Food waste is a global challenge with significant economic, environmental, and social implications. In the EU alone, an estimated 20% of food produced is lost or wasted annually, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and resource depletion. SERENADE addresses this challenge by developing sustainable and smart food storage solutions to minimize waste at the household, supermarket, and retail levels. The project combines advancements in food science, sensor technology, and eco-friendly materials to create innovative tools for monitoring and predicting food spoilage. SERENADE's main objective is to develop two key innovations: (1) a smart food container equipped with sensors to monitor freshness and (2) a handheld food spoilage analyzer for quick freshness assessments of unpackaged produce. These innovations aim to empower consumers and retailers to make informed decisions about food consumption and reduce waste. The project also focuses on developing advanced bio-based and recycled food-grade materials for sustainable packaging, contributing to circular economy principles. By reducing food waste and promoting sustainable practices, SERENADE contributes to the EU's Farm to Fork Strategy and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, addressing a critical societal need and promoting responsible consumption. The project’s expected impact includes a reduction in food waste, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and advancements in sustainable packaging technologies, benefitting consumers, retailers, and the environment.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Promoting circular economy approaches is critical to decrease the environmental footprint of food production activities. However, there are still inefficiencies at all stages of the food supply chain hindering sustainable food production. In this line, to contribute to sustainability in the last part of the food supply chain, SERENADE proposes a multidisciplinary approach combining three pillars: food, sensors, and materials technologies with the objective of building smart sustainable solutions targeting the reduction of food waste at the end of the food supply chain (households, supermarkets, and food retailers). Thus, SERENADE’s main goal is to develop sustainable innovations for food quality tracking, while training at the same time a new generation of 7 multidisciplinary Doctoral Candidates (DCs) in the fields of food technology, sensor technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and eco-friendly materials (circular economy) and allowing them to work in team with experts in other disciplines. These innovations will result in the development of i) a smart and sustainable food container for monitoring food freshness at households and markets, using sensor technology and made of novel food-grade materials (biobased or recycled) and ii) a handheld food spoilage analyzer combining sensor technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) software to determine food freshness in unpackaged food at markets.To achieve the development of said monitoring solutions, the close collaboration of experts in the three research pillars of the SERENADE project and the training of multidisciplinary researchers in the three fields at the same time, will be needed and will be possible thanks to the international and intersectoral cooperation of the SERENADE partners distributed among 4 EU countries (Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Italy), and to the strong involvement of the industry, with the participation and leadership of industrial partners (SMEs and large industries).

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • BSH ELECTRODOMESTICOS ESPANA SA · ZaragozaCoordinatorSpain
  • 3S - SENSORS, SIGNAL PROCESSING, SYSTEMS GMBH · SAARBRUCKENCity levelGermany
  • BOSCH SENSORTEC GMBH · ReutlingenGermany
  • GALLOO · MenenBelgium
  • JLM INNOVATION GMBH · TuebingenGermany
  • KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · LeuvenBelgium
  • SIRMAX SPA · CITTADELLA PDItaly
  • UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA · ZaragozaSpain
  • UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA · PadovaItaly
  • UNIVERSITAT DES SAARLANDES · SaarbruckenGermany
  • VLAAMSE INSTELLING VOOR TECHNOLOGISCH ONDERZOEK N.V. · MolBelgium

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union