FFoQSI Forschungslabor

FFOQSI - Integrated research from field to fork

Issue

How does the mostly small-structured Austrian food industry manage to acquire the scientific know-how that is required to further develop its own services and maintain international competitiveness?

 

Approach

FFoQSI (the name stands for “Feed and Food Quality Safety and Innovation” and is pronounced “Foxy”) is a K1 center within the COMET competence center program. It has addressed this need and brings companies from the entire food sector together with leading scientific institutions such as the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmed), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU) and the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. In 2021, FFoQSI was extended for another four years. The questions addressed are divided into three domains of scientific work:

All the topics concerning living plants and living animals (“pre-harvest”) are bundled in a “green area”, e.g.:

  • Examination of the effect of plant-based feed additives in the intestines of livestock
  • Use of microorganisms in biological crop protection (e.g. to combat parasites in tomato crops)
  • IT-supported correlation of parameters of climate change with damage occurring in herbal crops

All questions regarding further processing up to the finished food (“post-harvest”) are bundled in a “red area”:

  • Analysis of the in-house microbiome of cheese dairies
  • Causes of off-odors in pork
  • Increasing the shelf life of vegetable oils

A “blue area” is dedicated to so-called “Blue Sky” projects that serve to develop new research methods all the way up to usable prototypes, e.g.:

  • The synergistic effect of toxins of different biological origin (fungi, bacteria, ...)
  • The creation of maps showing the occurrence of certain mycotoxins
  • The reduction of food waste through innovative processing methods and novel packaging solutions

 

Result

The activities of the FFoQSI competence center bundle scientific know-how along the entire food value chain, from field and stable to the finished food and the recycling of residues. In addition to short-term problem solving, research competence is built up for the entire agriculture and food sector.

 

Contact

Food Cluster of Lower Austria
Magdalena Resch
+43 664 601 19673