3 - The European context

✔️ While Europe’s expectations for research infrastructure in food and human nutrition are high, community proposals were so far quite limited. This is largely due to a lack of federation due to a diversity of projects based on instruments (CS, networks, NeONoEx, DD, …), research observatories and multiple actors (research, agencies, influence groups or private stakeholders, …). Ultimately, the field of nutrition and health is represented only by an ESFRI MetroFood project, IR coordinated by Italy, and a future ESFRSI project “Food Nutrition and Health RI” (FNH-RI), coordinated by the Netherlands, mainly focused on data assembly.

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✔️ France is involved in MetroFood2, an IR project on the roadmap since 2018, through two institutions (University of Pau and the Pays de l’Adour and the National Testing Laboratory). This Infrastructure is largely dedicated to metrology and classical analytical characterization of foods for surveillance purposes, which is useful, but does not meet the challenges mentioned in the introduction. It consists of more than 48 institutions from 18 countries, nearly 18 of which are health and control agencies or analysis or reference laboratories.

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✔️ FNH-RI is a research infrastructure project, led by Wageningen University Research (WUR), to be included in the ESFRI framework. FNH-RI3, which would involve many institutes from 24 countries (currently Design study, preparatory phase 2022-2025), aims to bring together the main actors - researchers, citizens, industrialists and technology developers - to boost research on eating habits. To this end, it proposes standards and procedures for data sharing and harmonized protocols for tools, facilities and training. France, although highly anticipated, did not wish to immediately associate with this project, in order to take the time for a strategic national organization. Moreover, the project is still very (too) focused on the approach of reconciliation and data sharing, a relevant approach, but which does not in itself provide the data production services that are essential.

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✔️ In the long term, France could be visible in FNH-RI for its provisions to provide environmental data on specific food research, its ability to design foods under controlled conditions, to study their digestion via in vitro simulators and to conduct clinical studies, including multi-centric ones. France also wishes to actively participate in efforts to collect, connect and share Nutrition-Health data at the European level for scientists, but also for industry and the general public, thus enabling multi-criteria analysis of massive heterogeneous data.

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✔️ CALIS will be able to propose and make available to European scientists the most recent methodological developments in the various disciplines of Food in a national framework, but certainly within the framework of FNH-RI in the long term. The data collected by this infrastructure will be made available in this context but also, as much as possible, in national data hubs: this national link therefore implies European connections, with for example Elixir, Envri-plus (or upcoming cluster), …