Promoting Innovation of ferMENTed fOods

Present in all European diets, fermented foods (FF) hold a strategic place due to the benefits they offer in terms of nutrition, sustainability, innovation, cultural heritage and consumer interest. As they transiently provide biodiverse microbiota and related metabolites to the human organism, FF are incomparable to any other food types. The potential of FF for improving human health but also driving food innovation and local production in the next decades has become highly relevant. The challenge is therefore to federate the scientific community and other key stakeholders working on FF. We want to collectively advance scientific evidence of their health benefits, building a benefits/risk approach in order to promote multi-modal innovation and respond to the expectations of different European communities.

The PIMENTO network is relevant and timely because: i) there is a wealth of new scientific knowledge emerging on the role of the gut microbiota and the gastrointestinal tract in health and disease onset or predisposition and a parallel wealth of knowledge on food ecosystems, systemic approaches in food microbiology, foodomics, nutrigenomics and transdisciplinary studies on FF; ii) It is crucial to maintain vectors of biodiverse food microbiota and related metabolites in a period where diets are drastically changing toward highly-processed foods due to urbanisation and concentration of the food industry with detrimental health consequences (Fardet A., 2014; Schnabel et al., 2018). In particular, the production of FF by SMEs or at home are precious reservoir and source of microbial diversity; iii) There is a muchneeded transition towards a more sustainable diet and food consumption decreasing waste by promoting local production as well as promoting innovation and food sovereignty.

PIMENTO will contribute to the European Green deal strategy “Farm to Fork” by enhancing research and innovation into fermentation based solutions for food products and process improving nutritional,structural and functional properties. iv) There is also growing demand for simple (do it yourself), natural (zero additives, clean label) and healthier products (they should be available at affordable costs as part of a public health policy promoting health in low-income groups). v) Lay knowledge on microorganisms and fermentation is highly heterogeneous. It will contribute to open access identification, standardisation, and mapping of existing and potential beneficial microorganisms and communities. vi) An innovation strategy is mandatory to boost the development of FF and place EU among the leading area (700 new fermented products were introduced worldwide as opposed to around 60 in Europe (Mintel Global New products database, sept.2017))