The All-Island Food Integrity Initiative (Food-I) consolidates food systems expertise on the island of Ireland, bringing together key academic, industry and government stakeholders to realise a step-change in the sustainability, security, harmony and integrity of the food system on the island, with a view to ensuring healthy, safe, nutritious food.
Adopting a consumer-driven approach, diversification in the Irish food system will be enhanced, enabled by innovative and disruptive technologies. Food-I will build on the island of Ireland’s enviable international reputation as a quality food producer, ensuring consumer health and the economic viability and sustainability of national food systems.
Food-I employs a truly multidisciplinary and diversified research and innovation agenda. Internationally renowned scientists and academics from the island’s premier research organisations are being connected and unified under a common vision and goal to advance innovations for the whole island of Ireland food system and consumer culture.
Using our world-leading expertise, Food-I will challenge current practices and accelerate radical transitions towards a more environmentally and economically sustainable, transparent agri-food sector across the island of Ireland.
Agriculture and food industries indigenous to the island as well as multinationals, policy makers and consumer organisations are major stakeholders in Food-I, and are supporting the co-creation of a focused research programme with the objective of delivering high-level impact across the key and interlinked areas of sustainability, nutrition, transparency, food safety and consumer trust.
Challenges
We are at the cusp of a global revolution in food production systems.
Across the island of Ireland, there are imminent uncertainties that create specific and significant challenges for the food industry, not least in terms of traditional food commodities. The key drivers of this change are:
The negative effects of climate change and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on our global environment.
The need to feed an increasing global population, with finite natural resources, and the increasing move towards plant-based diets and biological crop inputs to complement or replace chemical farm inputs.
The deleterious effects of food producing and processing practices on ecosystems and biodiversity.
The need to produce food that enhances health, not food that causes ill health.
Declining consumer trust in the safety and authenticity of the food they buy and consume.
The need to develop new value chain models globally that appropriately reward food producers.
The global agri-food sector is facing substantial challenges due to changing dietary patterns and environmental issues associated with current production practices, and meeting national and international climate mitigation obligations.
Such issues have contributed to a growing negative perception towards current agricultural systems and are driving shifting consumer preferences. A background of political and economic uncertainty and changes, including Brexit, CAP reform, the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, are exacerbating many of these challenges for the food industry, not least in terms of trade of meat, dairy, and other food commodities. These national and global challenges are placing a premium on the sector’s ability to diversify its portfolio to include higher value products and services and to enter new international markets.
Opportunities
We have a significant opportunity to rapidly develop innovative and transformative solutions to radically transition the food system, and to position the island of Ireland as a research and innovation leader on the international stage for positive and sustainable change in the transition to climate-neutrality by 2050.
The island is well positioned to be an innovation leader in the global shift towards a food system based on the principles of sustainability and integrity. The island is a major player in the international food production and processing sector and has a wealth of expertise in agriculture, food processing, food innovation and formulation, along with a global reputation for food safety, openness and traceability.
We must maximise the potential of the island of Ireland to contribute innovative solutions that overcome the growing global challenges in sustainable food production, shifting to sustainable dietary patterns for optimal health, whilst engaging all stakeholders in the process of change.
Vision
Food-I will carry out world-leading research developing innovations and providing solutions to enable accelerated transitions to more sustainable food systems.
We will support and enhance the island of Ireland’s reputation as a high-quality food producer, contributing to global nutrition security, the protection of public health and the economic viability, equity and sustainability of food systems. Through a model systems approach - working from soil to society - we will accelerate radical transitions towards a more environmentally and economically sustainable, transparent agri-food sector across the island. Food-I will be recognised globally as an innovation leader driving the fourth industrial revolution in food systems through integrative interdisciplinary research that will exploit digital, biological, and physiochemical innovations.
Mission
Food-I will address the fundamental global challenges of Planetary Health, Food Systems and Human Health by consolidating our expertise, coalescing key academic, industry and government stakeholders to realise a step-change in the sustainability, security, harmony, and integrity of the food system with a view to ensuring safe and nutritious food for all.
