The Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham is hosting an event next month to turn the spotlight on food for the elderly.
The centre is a member of PIFS – Pioneering Innovative Food for Seniors – which has partners in Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Ireland and Denmark. PIFS aims to encourage food and drink businesses and educational trainers to develop innovative foods for older people.
An event has been organised for 8th September to provide free advice and support for small and medium-sized enterprises and trainers and/or relevant policy makers who work in this sector. Taking place from 9am to 1pm at the university’s Sutton Bonington campus, it will include input from practitioners and academics.
Richard Worrall, who heads the Food Innovation Centre, said: “As a society, Europe is becoming older with fewer births and longer life expectancy. One in four people in the UK is predicted to be 65 or older by 2050. There’s a huge opportunity for the food sector to respond to this by creating foods that are suitable for adults as they age.
“This Innovating Food for Seniors event is turning the spotlight on the healthy ageing challenges that older adults face and some of the latest solutions that the food and drink industry has developed, with a focus on the opportunities for the future.”
The Food Innovation Centre, based at the Bioenergy and Brewing Science building at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington campus, offers free support to eligible small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire under the Driving Research and Innovation project - a three-year project that runs until the end of December 2022. Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the D2N2 LEP, the project is run by the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, in conjunction with the Chemistry Innovation Laboratory in the School of Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and in association with the Midlands Engine. It is a unique collaboration project that provides free specialist innovation support to small and medium-sized businesses.
The PIFS project is a European Union-funded project that aims to provide free access to a new online learning platform for SMEs working in the area of elderly nutrition.
To book on to the event in September, which includes interactive learning, free learning resources, networking, and lunch, please register via the event flyer registration section on the Food Innovation Centre website https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/fic/documents/final-event-flyer-and-agenda.pdf, or directly contact sbzwl1@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk