Food PackagIng open courseware for higher Education and Staff of companieS Erasmus Project

Project Title

Food PackagIng open courseware for higher Education and Staff of companieS

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Agriculture, forestry and fisheries

Project Summary

Food packaging is at the centre of current and future challenges. During the last decade, the opinion about disposable food packaging shifted from technological progress to the chamber of horrors: the first source of chemicals in food, a source of microplastics, a cause of marine litters, a drain of non-renewable resources, and a source of CO2. European and national environmental protection policies have scheduled the phasing out of single-use plastics, including several ones for food contact. Food packaging is central in the circular economy promoted by the Directive (EU) 2019/904. New practices such as plastic recycling and reuse needs to be disseminated according to existing regulation (282/2008/EC) and the evolution of knowledge. Furthermore, it is recognised the positive contribution of food packaging materials and solutions in the prevention of food loss and food waste along the supply chain. Education programs should be reshaped to accelerate the transition to sustainable production and boosts innovation: new disposal infrastructures, waste sorting, composting and biodegradation, new sourcing, supply chain optimization, new engineering methodologies, mathematical modelling and simulation…

The concept of mixed learning and training on food packaging issues was developed and deployed as part of the FitNESS project “Food PackagIng open courseware for higher Education and Staff of companieS” (ERASMUS program, contract 2017-1-FR01 -KA202-037441). The FitNESS project consortium includes partners (TUM with its partner Fraunhofer IVV, AgroParisTech-INRAE, ACTIA-LNE, AgroSupDijon / University of Burgundy, UCP Biotechnology College of the Catholic University of Portugal, UZAG PBF / University of Zagreb, IATA- CSIC (Spanish National Research Council / Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology), who have participated in the bulk of collaborative research programs across Europe on the safety of packaged food, development and application of new packaging materials and recycling of materials in contact with foodstuffs. The proposed FitNESS training content thus contributes to disseminating the state of the art and transferring new approaches to professionals, students and teachers in Europe and worldwide.

The concept of FitNESS is based on three pillars:
– Validated content (quality, thoroughness and openness) covering all the essential aspects of food packaging at two levels (novice basic and advanced);
– An open-source distribution format, which can be read on any terminal and even as a PowerPoint replacement for teaching in classrooms. All interactive and non-interactive WEB documents are supported and can be run with or without a server.
– A search engine adapted to mixed education.

The FitNESS project thus created the largest free online platform (2-3 months of training, > 80 lectures, 1 book, ~ 3000 fully searchable slides, > 30 interactive activities, 48 hours of recorded videos) on training on the food packaging (platform link: https://fitness.agroparistech.fr/) and a common repository for the development of new educational content and online resources (databases, software, etc.). One of the objectives was to encourage learning in different disciplines in order to transfer the skills and knowledge of experts and distinguished teachers in food science & technology, packaging technology, materials science, toxicology, mass transfer and thermodynamics. The material covers emerging topics such as different packaging materials, their production and characteristics (metal, glass, paper, plastic, biodegradable and bio-sourced materials, nanomaterials etc.) and technologies (such as active and intelligent packaging), recycling issues, safety of packaged food, by design, optimal packaging design, life cycle analysis, risk assessment, molecular modelling of permeation and migration processes etc., via online databases in addition to calculation tools.

The online platform offers a wide variety of highly interactive online courses, webinars, quizzes, case studies and references. The material is organized to suit the program levels from basic to expert and is suitable for different target groups (including students, teachers as well as industry professionals). The platform works online on any screen (laptop, smartphone, tablet), but it can be fully downloaded to work offline in low bandwidth areas (e.g., in developing countries).
The content is accessible from anywhere via a web page via a smartphone or a computer. It was used to maintain the continuity of education during the COVID-19 epidemic not only for project partners (~ 1,200 students, ~ 200 professionals) but also for students and external interns all others interested in food packaging issues.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 372495,68 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASSOCIATION DE COORDINATION TECHNIQUE POUR L’INDUSTRIE AGROALIMENTAIRE & Country: FR

Project Partners

• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
• UNIVERSIDADE CATOLICA PORTUGUESA
• INSTITUT DES SCIENCES ET INDUSTRIES DU VIVANT ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT – AGRO PARIS TECH
• UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB – FACULTY OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY – UZAG PBF
• AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DEINVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
• INSTITUT NATIONAL SUPERIEUR DES SCIENCES AGRONOMIQUES DE L’ALIMENTATION ET DE L’ENVIRONEMENT