The general concept of the MEDKIDS project is articulated around research on new products based on the common foods of the Mediterranean diet. The aim is to substantially improve the nutritional characteristics of the available foods and make them palatable to the child-youth population. All this, with the ultimate aim of contributing to the prevention of obesity in these stages of life, by promoting a diet with lower energy density.

Therefore, the objective of the present project is the research and development of new foods that contribute to improving eating habits in the child-youth population, for the prevention of obesity, with a Mediterranean diet pattern, through the intervention of all areas involved in the education of this population group.

With the MEDKIDS project, the aim is to obtain an improved lunch box as a final result, with ranges of new products that are healthier than the alternatives currently available, suitable and suitable for the child-youth population, which allow them to be included in the daily diet in an easy way , appetizing and that allows offering consumers a plus by adapting to the specific needs of the population and with evidence for the prevention of various chronic non-communicable diseases.

This project will be carried out cooperatively by a balanced, multidisciplinary and interregional consortium of companies with great experience and specialization in each of the areas and subjects involved in the development of the project, made up of 6 companies representing various important sectors of the food industry: AMC INNOVA, project leader, specialized in the juice and fruit sector, FERTINAGRO, dedicated to the production and marketing of plant nutrients, PESCANOVA, specialized in seafood, NOVAPAN, in the production of bakery products, pastry , pastries and chocolate, ACER CAMPRESTRES, a company that develops functional ingredients and foods obtained mainly from the olive tree and its fruit, and COOPERATIVA SAN FRANCISCO DE ASÍS DE MONTEFRÍO, dedicated to the production and marketing of olive oil.

All the companies in the consortium work in different areas of the agri-food sector, all of them constituting a fundamental part in carrying it out due to their complementarity in the different technical aspects that affect the project.

This consortium will be reinforced by the participation of important research centers specialized in the theme of the project, thus promoting public-private cooperation in the field of R&D: the Center for Biomedical Research in the Pathophysiology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), through the participation of the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) and the Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), the University of Granada (UGR), the University of Navarra (UNAV), the Fundación Instituto of Health Research of Santiago de Compostela (FIDIS), the National Association of Canned Fish Manufacturers (ANFACO-CECOPESCA), the Catholic University of San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), the Fat Institute (IG) and the Andalusian Institute of Research and Training in Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Ecological Production (IFAPA).

Financiación

Financiado por el Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI)