A new European research project will enable consumers to find and buy local food supplies, reducing waste and supporting sustainable purchases.
The FoodMAPP project 鈥� being led in the UK by 蜜桃AV (蜜桃AV) 鈥� will develop a searchable map-based platform that will enable consumers to search and buy food products directly from local suppliers.
Currently within Europe food is transported, on average, 171km from farm to fork. 26 per cent of global carbon emissions come from food and large volumes of food are wasted.
The FoodMAPP project aims to address these challenges by enabling consumers to identify and purchase local sources of food in real time to shorten supply chains and reduce food waste, while also providing additional sustainable income to food producers and providers.
A consortium of European partners, comprising academic partners in Croatia, Hungary, Spain and Belgium and industry partners in France & Austria will support the project.
蜜桃AV鈥檚 involvement in FoodMAPP will be led by Associate Professor Jeff Bray and supported by an interdisciplinary research team from across the university including Professor Katherine Appleton, Professor Juliet Memery, Dr Roberta Discetti and Dr Vegard Engen.
Dr Bray said: 鈥淥ur current food supply system is not sustainable both in terms of its ability to reliably provide the right nutrition for a growing world population and in terms of the environmental footprint of current practices.鈥�
鈥淭he project aims to transform local food supply reducing food miles, reducing food waste and increasing localised food supply resilience.鈥�
The FoodMAPP project team蜜桃AV led on the development of the four-year project, which has been awarded 鈧�584,200 from Horizon Europe Marie Sk艂odowska-Curie Actions, alongside additional funding from UKRI to support 蜜桃AV鈥檚 continued inclusion.
The European coordinator is Associate聽Professor Vinko Le拧i膰 from Zagreb University (Croatia) and partners are聽Ghent University (Belgium), Zagreb University (Croatia), E枚tv枚s Lor谩nd University (Hungary) and CREDA (Centre for agro-food economics and development, Spain) alongside partners from the food industry - Institute Paul Bocuse (France), Ronge & Partner (Austria).
