On September 11th and 13th, 2024, a two-part webinar series titled “Securing Our Food Supply Chains: EU’s Innovative Initiatives to Combat Food Fraud, Improve Food Traceability and Sustainability, and Increase Consumers’ Trust” successfully brought together a broad community of EU-funded projects, European Commission representatives and key food system stakeholders.
Organised as a joint initiative among several ongoing projects, these webinars created an open space for cross-fertilisation of ideas, knowledge exchange and the exploration of collaborative opportunities.
With over 40 participants in attendance, including WATSON project coordinator, Dr Dimitrios Argyropoulos (University College Dublin), the webinars served as an important platform for sharing knowledge, showcasing innovation and identifying pathways for future synergies across projects.
Sharing innovative solutions across the EU food sector
The first session, held on September 11th, opened with a roundtable introduction and continued with insightful presentations from WATSON, FishEUtrust and Sea2See.
Each project showcased its innovative tools and strategies to combat food fraud and promote sustainability across different parts of the food industry. These included digital traceability frameworks, consumer-facing transparency tools, and solutions designed to increase the reliability and authenticity of food products circulating within the EU.
On September 13th, the second session featured a keynote discussion with European Commission representatives Ms. Daniela Lueth (DG RTD), Ms. Ana Patricia Lopez (DG AGRI) and Mr. Jorge Molina Villanueva (DG RTD), who presented the Food 2030 initiative. Their interventions underlined the EU’s policy priorities and long-term vision for resilient, sustainable, and inclusive food systems.
This was followed by project contributions from ALLIANCE, THEROS, and CUES, which focused on improving food traceability, transparency, and consumer trust. The newly launched TealHelix project also introduced its objectives and future direction, marking an exciting addition to the landscape of food system innovation.
Throughout both sessions, participants were encouraged to reflect on shared challenges and opportunities in the areas of food fraud prevention, traceability technologies, sustainability goals, and stakeholder engagement.
This webinar series was a clear example of how collaboration across projects and institutions can fuel innovative thinking and accelerate progress toward common goals.
We thank all participants, speakers and organisers for their valuable contributions, and look forward to continuing the dialogue in future joint actions!