UZWIL, Switzerland — Bühler has committed to co-found the Future Food Initiative launched by ETH Zürich and EPFL, together with partners Givaudan and Nestle S.A.

The initiative aims to accelerate the development of healthy food products and more sustainable, plastic-free packaging. Bühler said the research lays the ground for secure access to affordable nutrition, addressing global challenges of hunger and malnutrition.

The Swiss federal institutes of technology ETH Zürich and EPFL launched Future Food – A Swiss Research Initiative, Future Food Initiative, together with partners Givaudan, Nestle and Bühler.

“We are stepping up as an industry to address challenges in the food value chain,” said Stefan Scheiber, chief executive officer of the Bühler Group. “Bühler’s ambition is to create innovative and sustainable solutions, partnering with leading research institutes, industrial partners, and promising start-ups in the world of food.”

The Future Food Initiative is funded by a donation from the industrial partners with a total amount of 4.1 million Swiss francs. The initiative’s goal is to further expand research and education in the area of food and nutrition sciences at the interface of universities and enterprises.

The objective is to accelerate the development of healthy food products, which leverage consumer trends, to intensify the search for solutions for sustainable, plastic-free packaging, and to secure access to affordable nutrition.

“We have launched this initiative to pool our expertise in research and innovation to find innovative approaches for healthy foods and a sustainable supply chain,” said Dr. Detlef Günther, vice-president for research and corporate relations at the ETH Zürich.

The Future Food Initiative brings together competences from academic and industrial research in food and nutrition sciences at ETH Zürich and EPFL.

“The goals of the initiative align perfectly with our ambition of addressing global challenges of hunger and malnutrition,” said Ian Roberts, chief technology officer of the Bühler Group. “I would like to thank the ETH Zürich and EPFL for initiating this joint platform. We are looking forward to bringing on board additional partners into this initiative in the coming years. The initiative will help make Switzerland a global lighthouse for innovation across the food value chain.”

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