Training professionals and students on new testing technologies for the food sector Erasmus Project

Project Title

Training professionals and students on new testing technologies for the food sector

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Research and innovation

Project Summary

The Food and Drink Manufacturing and Processing (FDMP) sector is no longer seen as an attractive choice for workers mainly due to the traditional reluctance to invest in innovation. As a consequence, recruitment difficulties have arisen, especially for high-level, food science and technology roles. Moreover, employers and experts feel that young people are often ill-prepared and are not sufficiently focused on the development of skills that are required in the workplace.

In the field of food quality, safety and defence assurance, tests still rely on traditional laboratory analyses as well as on personnel expertise. However, new inspection technologies have been developed with great potential to be transferred to the food sector, such as: optical spectroscopy, X-ray radiology, gas sensing, and biosensors. Unfortunately, very few of them have been introduced neither in industry nor in educational and training programmes.

The objective of UPDATEST has been to bridge this transnational gap by increasing the knowledge, competences and skills on new technologies for food quality, safety and defence assurance in FDMP industries. The target group of the project has comprised initial and continuing vocational education and training students, such as: students in the initial education system; individuals entering a job at an entry-level position; and food industry professionals who have already gained experience in the labour market. These people are recognised as being capable of, firstly, assessing both in-place and alternative, technological solutions to address food quality, safety and defence issues; and, secondly, influencing decision-makers and so bringing about change in their organisations. As a result, the project was intended to contribute to the transformation of the EU FDMP industry in the short-medium term and in line with the Commission’s priorities.

The consortium consisted of a Spanish technology centre (AINIA), a UK sector skills council (NSAFD), a Spanish federation of food associations (FEDACOVA), an Italian federation of food associations (FEDSERV), and a Greek university (Agricultural University of Athens, AUA).

The work plan to achieve the project objective was structured into six activities (A1 – A6). A validation analysis was performed in A1 by surveying 80 stakeholders from FDMP industries, technological research institutes, VET centres, and academia. On the basis of the analysis, the learning programmes guidelines were produced. These documents were used in A2 to select potential participants for the courses (teachers and students; researchers and technology providers; and trainers and staff members of FDMP industries); and to produce the materials for the in-person and on-line courses. 2 pilot courses for 34 IVET and CVET students were executed in A3 to evaluate both programmes and extract valuable information to improve the quality of the generated guidelines and materials. Additionally, three horizontal activities were carried out for communication and dissemination (A4); exploitation and sustainability (A5); and management activities (A6) purposes.

The three main outcomes (or “intellectual outputs”) that were produced by the project are explained in more detail as follows:
•The Programme Guidelines document outlines the structure, tone, delivery methods, proposed learning objectives and content for both the in-person and on-line learning programmes. The document has been produced in English.
•The educational materials for the face-to-face learning programme consisted of chapters (i.e. text documents) and presentations on 14 topics related to food authentication. The materials were originally produced in English and introductory summaries for every chapter were generated in Greek and Spanish.
•The training materials for the on-line learning programme were uploaded to a Moodle platform which is accessible through the project website. They consisted of chapters (i.e. text documents), presentations, and multiple-choice assessments about 12 topics grouped into 3 modules. The materials were originally produced in English; the presentations and multiple-choice assessments were translated into Spanish; and introductory summaries were also prepared in Greek.

It is important for the consortium to ensure that the project results will be used beyond the lifetime of the project in order to contribute to the sustainability of UPDATEST. The association has made the intellectual outputs freely accessible. The dimension of the targeted EU-FDMP industry (285,000 companies employing more than 4.5 million people) ensures a huge initial group of potential end users through the appropriate combination of dissemination and sustainability strategies. In order to further expand the number of people interested in the courses, the intellectual outputs have considered some technologies that could be adapted to cover the training needs of other sectors, such as: packaging, pharmaceutical and cosmetics.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 285530 Eur

Project Coordinator

AINIA & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Improve Limited
• AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
• FEDERACION EMPRESARIAL DE AGROALIMENTACION DE LA COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA(FEDACOVA)
• FEDERALIMENTARE SERVIZI SRL