IATA-CSIC, Scientific Excellence Research (Severo Ochoa)

IATA's mission and commitment to society is to contribute to providing solutions to the challenges faced by the food system by generating high-quality scientific knowledge that leads to innovation and transfer to the productive sector, as well as to share that knowledge with society as a whole through dissemination, training and education in the field of Food Science and Technology. IATA's vision is that the multiple challenges facing the food system can only be addressed from a collaborative, multidisciplinary perspective that involves all actors in the food chain and translates scientific results into positive social and economic impacts.

The IATA-CSIC uses state-of-the-art tools to research various food research topics, some of which are not covered by any other national food research institute (e.g., food viruses, sustainable food packaging, nanotechnologies for food applications).

IATA's research priorities are fully aligned with the challenges current global issues related to food production in a sustainable way and a sustainable healthy nutrition, because of the impact this has when implementing European policies on climate change, transition of food patterns, healthy ageing and others global challenges. Our multidisciplinary research is based on It is distributed in three areas: health, food security and sustainability. The quality of the food and consumer preferences are also an integral part of our research agenda and transversal to the three research programs.

Research Programme: ENSURING FOOD SAFETY AGAINST RISKS EMERGING

Ensuring food safety and assessing emerging risks in the chain are vital to future food production and the supply system in a Highly interconnected and competitive global economy. Research topics Priorities within this program include:

Detection of biological and chemical contaminants in food

The development of rapid analytical tools to detect emerging food risks it is essential to guarantee food security. An area we want to explore, Backed by previous experience, it is the study of the mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis and opportunistic infections through multi-omics approaches for the design of new antimicrobial strategies and antimicrobial strategies.

New strategies to ensure food security

Develop strategies to reduce the use of chemicals (including novel antimicrobials of natural origin and disinfection techniques) for the food industry is one of our objectives to guarantee food safety.

Research Programme: SUSTAINABLE FOOD - FROM PRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION CONSERVATION

Sustainable food production for a growing population is one of the main challenges we face. This requires the design of more efficient bio-based processes, as well as guarantee and prolong the quality of food to reduce food waste.

The priority lines of research that are being developed within this Program are:

New ingredients and sustainable packaging materials from the valorisation of Waste and biomass

In the context of the circular economy to increase the sustainability of the food chain, We will address two main issues: obtaining new ingredients from biomass waste or alternative sources of biomass, and the development of sustainable packaging materials to replace plastic  packaging.

Improve the sustainability of food processes

This research priority is approached from multiple perspectives: from the understanding of structural features and the use of predictive models to optimize the food processes, to the investigation of microbial interactions that influence the fermentation processes.

Research Program: FOOD FOR HEALTH

Understand how diet affects consumers' health and needs, and use this information for developing new foods and dietary recommendations for a personalized nutrition, will contribute to the prevention of diseases and the development of consumer-oriented foods. This program takes a holistic view of different factors that may be involved. Priority research topics of interest scientific, industrial and social projects that will be addressed through ongoing research projects and future are:

Microbiome and health

Explore the role of food microorganisms, the microbiome, and metabolites partners to design the next generation of microbiome-based probiotics and prebiotics, foods, and diets that promote the microbiome. Omics and molecular techniques will be used to understand the potential of probiotics, host-host interactions, and Microbiota and the role of the microbiota in child health and development.

Food bioactives

A rational design of healthier food products requires studying the biological and technological functionalities of bioactive molecules in food and new food ingredients, and how processing affects their production, bioavailability, structure, functionality and sensory properties.

Consumer-oriented research

In our rapidly evolving food system, products need to be adapted to the changing needs of consumers (especially for the aging population).