EuroFIR history

The European Food Information Resource Network project (2005-10; EuroFIR) was a Network of Excellence (NoE) comprising of 48 partners from academia, research organisations and small-and-medium size enterprises (SMEs) in 27 countries. The project was funded by the European Community’s Sixth Framework Programme (Priority 5: Food Quality and Safety; Contract no FP6-513944).

One of its main objectives was to develop, for the first time in Europe, a single online platform with up-to-date food composition data across Europe. Another important outcome of EuroFIR NoE was the establishment of a longer-term sustainable platform to continue some of the activities set up during the project and this was achieved by the creation of a non-profit international association, EuroFIR AISBL. The association is based in Brussels, with 42 of the original 48 EuroFIR NoE partners joining as Members. The main aim of the association is to support and promote the development, management, publication and application of food composition data, through international cooperation and harmonization.

In 2010, a new 2-year project was started, EuroFIR Nexus, and funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (Theme FP7-KBBE-2010-4; grant agreement No 265967). Its objective is to further integrate/refine the EuroFIR Food Platform, to improve/support the ways research is undertaken into relationships between food, diets and health in Europe. The focus is to improve the application of validated food data and tools for pan-European nutrition studies and networked usage, implementation of standards and implementation and promoting the use of standards and best practice. The revised consortium consists of 19 beneficiaries including EuroFIR AISBL and 23 Third Parties linked through the association.