The Federal Government has launched the Food Futures Flagship in an attempt to boost Australia’s $100bn food and agriculture sector.
“The new $20m Food Futures research project brings together rural industries, researchers, industry bodies and food companies,” the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Warren Truss, said on Tuesday.
“The benefits for Australia from focused research in frontier technologies could include increased exports, healthier and safer food, improved farm profitability, revitalised rural communities, increased employment and lower national healthcare costs,” Truss said.
Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran launched the plan saying the project aims to add an extra $3bn a year to the agrifood sector by applying new technologies to five strategic areas of the food chain.
These include redesigning the composition of grains for enhanced health and nutrition, designing new breeding systems for more efficient and sustainable production of beef cattle and seafood and extracting healthy bioactive compounds from meat and dairy products as ingredients to enhance other foods.
They will also be focusing on the high-pressure processing of fruits and vegetables to preserve freshness and improve food safety and biosensor measurement of flavour molecules to improve wine and food quality.