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. 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 PIMENTO project, a COST Action CA20128 (Promoting Innovation of ferMENTed fOods; https://fermentedfoods.eu/), which started in November 2021, is supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology; www.cost.eu). The challenge of PIMENTO is to federate the scientific community and other key stakeholders working on FF. The long-term goal of PIMENTO is to place Europe at the spearhead of innovation on microbial foods, promoting health, regional diversity, and local production at different scales, contributing to economic and societal development as well as food sovereignty in order to promote multi-modal innovation and respond to the expectations of European communities. The wide variety of stakeholders engaged will enable CA PIMENTO: i) to tightly connect and clarify scientific knowledge on health aspects of FF ii) to tackle technical, societal and legislative bottlenecks behind FF-based innovations iii) to contribute to the establishment of long-term scientific collaborations on FF iv) to disseminate widely defined scientific knowledge on FF v) to outline a strategic roadmap for future joint research. PIMENTO will contribute to the European Green Deal and the “Farm to Fork” strategy by enhancing research and innovation into fermentation-based solutions for food products and processes, improving nutritional, sensory and functional properties. This collaborative network of researchers that includes food scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs, microbiologists, biochemists, and nutritionists has a very broad geographical coverage with 396 partners from 283 institutions of 50 countries. This regional diversity will play an important role through considering a differentiated panel of FF in diets.

Resumen del trabajo presentado al XXII EuroFoodChem Congress, celebrado en Belgrade, Serbia del 14 al 16 de junio de 2023.-- et al.

Peer reviewed