The projet FitNESS aims at developing a collaborative e-learning platform for the community interested in all aspects of food packaging: from functions, materials, systems and processes, regulations to advanced applications and designs. The consortium combining prominent European academic institutions and technical laboratories will develop comprehensive and highly interactive contents (online-courses, webinars, quizzes, case-studies, role-plays…) to disseminate information to both technical and non-technical audiences. The three curriculum levels (novice, intermediate, expert) will be well adapted to the different target publics: students, graduate students, professionals from industry, lifelong training... The project will encourage interdisciplinary approaches across the panel of distinguished experts and teachers, combining: food science/technology, packaging technology, material science, toxicology, mass transfer and thermodynamics… Real-time computations and simulations as well as advanced visualizations will be offered via the development of several of plugins and applets enabling to create either augmented experiences or to solve real industrial cases. Special intensive study programs will be organized in five main places in Europe to train and to strengthen the trainers on emergent topics associated to specific research results: recycled, biodegradable and bio-sourced materials, food packaging safe-by-design, optimal packaging design, life-cycle-analysis, risk assessment, molecular modelling, migration modelling via online databases and on-line calculation tools… The cutting-edge platform combined with original contents will prepare trainees to implement functional/optimal design practices, rapid prototyping, sustainable innovations to various industries (food, packaging, converters, chemical industries…) and laboratories (enforcement, technical, and academic). The civil society and non-governmental organizations will be able to find independent responses to complex questions such as the impact of food packaging on environment and human well-being. Finally, professionals from other application domains such as biotechnology, pharmacy, medical applications, and agrochemical industry will find also relevant and valuable information.
Food packaging is at the centre of current and future challenges. During the last decade, the opinion about disposable food packaging shifted from technological progress to the chamber of horrors: the first source of chemicals in food, a source of microplastics, a cause of marine litters, a drain of non-renewable resources, and a source of CO2. European and national environmental protection policies have scheduled the phasing out of single-use plastics, including several ones for food contact. Food packaging is central in the circular economy promoted by the Directive (EU) 2019/904. New practices such as plastic recycling and reuse needs to be disseminated according to existing regulation (282/2008/EC) and the evolution of knowledge. Furthermore, it is recognised the positive contribution of food packaging materials and solutions in the prevention of food loss and food waste along the supply chain. Education programs should be reshaped to accelerate the transition to sustainable production and boosts innovation: new disposal infrastructures, waste sorting, composting and biodegradation, new sourcing, supply chain optimization, new engineering methodologies, mathematical modelling and simulation… The concept of mixed learning and training on food packaging issues was developed and deployed as part of the FitNESS project “Food PackagIng open courseware for higher Education and Staff of companieS” (ERASMUS program, contract 2017-1-FR01 -KA202-037441). The FitNESS project consortium includes partners (TUM with its partner Fraunhofer IVV, AgroParisTech-INRAE, ACTIA-LNE, AgroSupDijon / University of Burgundy, UCP Biotechnology College of the Catholic University of Portugal, UZAG PBF / University of Zagreb, IATA- CSIC (Spanish National Research Council / Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology), who have participated in the bulk of collaborative research programs across Europe on the safety of packaged food, development and application of new packaging materials and recycling of materials in contact with foodstuffs. The proposed FitNESS training content thus contributes to disseminating the state of the art and transferring new approaches to professionals, students and teachers in Europe and worldwide. The concept of FitNESS is based on three pillars: - Validated content (quality, thoroughness and openness) covering all the essential aspects of food packaging at two levels (novice basic and advanced); - An open-source distribution format, which can be read on any terminal and even as a PowerPoint replacement for teaching in classrooms. All interactive and non-interactive WEB documents are supported and can be run with or without a server. - A search engine adapted to mixed education. The FitNESS project thus created the largest free online platform (2-3 months of training, > 80 lectures, 1 book, ~ 3000 fully searchable slides, > 30 interactive activities, 48 hours of recorded videos) on training on the food packaging (platform link: https://fitness.agroparistech.fr/) and a common repository for the development of new educational content and online resources (databases, software, etc.). One of the objectives was to encourage learning in different disciplines in order to transfer the skills and knowledge of experts and distinguished teachers in food science & technology, packaging technology, materials science, toxicology, mass transfer and thermodynamics. The material covers emerging topics such as different packaging materials, their production and characteristics (metal, glass, paper, plastic, biodegradable and bio-sourced materials, nanomaterials etc.) and technologies (such as active and intelligent packaging), recycling issues, safety of packaged food, by design, optimal packaging design, life cycle analysis, risk assessment, molecular modelling of permeation and migration processes etc., via online databases in addition to calculation tools. The online platform offers a wide variety of highly interactive online courses, webinars, quizzes, case studies and references. The material is organized to suit the program levels from basic to expert and is suitable for different target groups (including students, teachers as well as industry professionals). The platform works online on any screen (laptop, smartphone, tablet), but it can be fully downloaded to work offline in low bandwidth areas (e.g., in developing countries). The content is accessible from anywhere via a web page via a smartphone or a computer. It was used to maintain the continuity of education during the COVID-19 epidemic not only for project partners (~ 1,200 students, ~ 200 professionals) but also for students and external interns all others interested in food packaging issues.