Turning waste into resources, innovating while ensuring food safety, and personalizing diets to improve health—these are the pillars of OnFoods, an ambitious PNRR-funded project coordinated by the University of Parma.
OnFoods brings together universities, research centers, and private companies in a large public-private partnership for the transition toward more sustainable, safer, and healthier food systems.
Activities are organized into seven thematic spokes, each focused on a specific challenge. The Edmund Mach Foundation is involved in Spoke 3 and Spoke 4. In particular, Spoke 3—where FEM also coordinates the Early Career Scientist group—is dedicated to innovation and food safety, developing and validating advanced technologies to ensure product quality, even in highly innovative contexts like the recovery of agri-food waste, where preventing biological, chemical, and physical contamination is crucial.
In this area, the team is testing cutting-edge solutions for real-time contaminant monitoring.
The goal is clear: to close the production loop without compromising food quality or consumer health, delivering tangible benefits to the agri-food system:
- reduction of food waste and more efficient use of resources
- safe recycling of waste as raw materials for new ingredients or packaging
- personalized dietary regimes through healthier and traceable products
The OnFoods project proves that circular economy in the food sector is not just a virtuous ideal, but a feasible and applicable model—capable of turning waste into safety, innovation, and well-being.
Spoke 4 builds on a crucial premise: food safety is not enough—it must be accompanied by quality, healthiness, and alignment with individual needs.
OnFoods also shows that sustainable food systems are not an abstract goal, but the result of a scientific and technological process that spans the entire supply chain—from agricultural production to processing, from safety to nutrition.
Watch the video to learn more about the goals and research behind Spoke 3 and 4:
https://youtu.be/Gh5k-uf4qeU
Visit the OnFoods website for more information: www.onfoods.it