SENSE

Harmonised Environmental Sustainability in the European Food and Drink Chain

With the aim of contributing to the reduction of the environmental impact of the agri-food production chain, the European project, SENSE, coordinated by AZTI, raises awareness of this visual disclosure piece. The SENSE project (Harmonised Environmental Sustainability in the European Food and Drink Chain) falls within the scope of the 7th European Union Framework Programme, in which 23 companies, food associations and research centres from 12 European countries participate.

Saioa Ramos

Project Manager

The SENSE members will be focusing specifically on creating a methodology applied to the juice, dairy, meat and aquaculture sectors, chosen for their importance in the European market. The methodology expected to emerge out of the SENSE project will need to have the following features: it can be easily incorporated into foodstuff companies irrespective of their size, and can also help consumers to identify, on the market, the products that are committed to the sustainability of the environment.

The project, which will be developed over three years, sets out to evaluate the current systems for analysing environmental impact, and will come up with a new simplified system to evaluate traceable sustainability throughout the production chain. It is about devising a process that will actually incorporate the three pillars of sustainability: respect for the environment, economic viability and benefit for society.

The new methodology will be transferred to the various foodstuff sectors as well as to the entities involved in the food chain. Likewise, consumers will be participating by deciding what form the product identification will take, and what the informative content will consist of; the purpose is to enable the general public to choose the more sustainable articles.