According to forecasts, the global population will increase to over 9 million people by 2060. As a result, the need for food and the demand for high-quality protein will steadily increase, while at the same time the environmental resources available for agricultural production will decrease. In order to meet the expected increase in food demand, more resource-efficient circular economy principles must be established in the food chain to minimise the high waste of residual raw materials in agriculture and food processing and thus contribute to long-term global food security. The losses of agricultural food waste raw materials, estimated by the FAO at 45% of the annual global waste volume, could be utilised more efficiently if they are used as a source of valuable ingredients such as proteins, lipids, vitamins, fibre, polyphenols or antioxidants and used to enrich conventional foods.

The main objective of PROVIDE is therefore to valorise the by-products of food production in order to obtain new high-quality ingredients for baked goods and thus promote more sustainable and circular food production. The focus here should be on "green" technologies in particular, so that organic raw materials can also be labelled as "organic" after production.

In particular, the following individual goals are to be achieved:

• Identifying nutrient-rich and bioactive agricultural waste and by-products and analysing their nutritional profile
• valorising waste and by-products and increasing the efficiency and sustainability of conventional technological processes used in bakery production
• Promoting circular and zero-waste food systems and developing models for responsible research and innovation
• Develop strategies to transfer the newly developed products to the market, facilitate technology transfer and promote consumer acceptance

A total of six research centres from Italy, Norway, Romania, Morocco and Germany are involved in PROVIDE:

• TUM Chair of Analytical Food Chemistry, Germany
• ENEA (Italian Agency for new Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), Italy
• IBA (National Institute of Research and Development for Food Bioresources), Romania
• Chouaib Doukkali University, Morocco
• NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Norway
• BioRomania (Association of Operators in Organic Farming), Romania

The project is divided into a total of 10 work packages (WPs) (see below). The TUM Chair of Analytical Food Chemistry will coordinate PROVIDE and lead WP1 (project management). In addition, the Chair of Analytical Food Chemistry will lead WP3 (quality and safety of substances), in which the raw materials and end products will be evaluated with regard to quality, food safety and additional nutritional and physiological benefits. Further contributions will be made in WP2 (Mapping valuable raw material waste), WP4 (Technological innovations in food processing), WP5 (Characterisation of compounds with additional benefits), WP6 (Practical application), WP7 (Sustainability), WP8 (Consumer acceptance and product launch) and WP10 (Knowledge transfer and communication).