02/12/09. Bilbao. The Technological Centre specialised in marine and food research, AZTI-Tecnalia, and the Basque Foundation for Agro-food safety (ELIKA) have organised the “Innovative, healthy and safe food products” conference, that was celebrated today, 2 December, in the Euskalduna Palace of Bilbao. The event is geared towards the double objective of responding to the consumer’s new tendencies and expectations regarding food, as well as establishing the requirements that must be taken into account by the CAPV agro-food companies to manufacture innovative, healthy and safe foods.

In the opening speech, the Vice-counsellor of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Basque Government, José Luis Anda, has expressed that “innovation in businesses, and especially in a sector like the food sector, is becoming the corner stone for success in the market. This forces the manufacturers to research new technologies and innovate products, offering foods that were unknown until recently, more adapted to the real needs of consumers”.

Similarly, the Vice-counsellor has highlighted the need for new foods, aside from the nutritional value that they offer, to incorporate ingredients that present supplementary physiological qualities, with beneficial effects on general health as well as well-being. Likewise, he has insisted on the safety of foods and the strict control that is imposed by the European Authorities regarding food safety, not only of the products themselves, but also of their publicity.

Along the same lines, Sonia Riesco, Researcher of the Market Observatory of AZTI-Tecnalia, in her lecture on the tendencies in the innovation of food products, and Andreu Palou, Vice-president of the Scientific Panel on Nutrition of the European Authority – EFSA--, have spoken about the problems and perspectives of the nutritional and health declarations regarding food.

Case studies

Various case studies on innovation in food industries have also been presented in the conference, that have shown which approval process should be used for a new food (Flora Pro-Activ case from Unilever Foods Spain), how the product should be launched, marketing strategies and the application process of a new food with nutritional and health properties (cases of the traditional anchovy with reduced-salt content from the Consorcio Español Conservero, coffee with lime tea and lemon balm from Cafinsa, and a cardio-protective dairy product from Tecnolat, respectively).

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