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Members of the consortium who will be developing the TOLERA project, promoted by the CDTI (Photo: Laboratorios Ordesa).
 04.06.2018

Laboratorios Ordesa are leading a research project on food allergies

Laboratorios Ordesa head up the TOLERA consortium, which was conceived with the aim of developing workable solutions for the food industry that provide safer and more effective foodstuffs and ingredients to prevent people from developing food intolerances and allergies. Under the framework of this project—driven by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) with a budget of €8.1 million for the 2018-2021 period—the company will promote various research studies, both their own at their research centre in Barcelona Science Park, and in partnership with other companies, universities and public and private R&D centres.

 

TOLERA (Industrial research into new ingredients, foodstuffs, technologies and safety in the field of food intolerances and allergies) will include basic, pre-clinical research studies, as well as the development of new products, and will focus on two main areas. On the one hand, they will look for new beneficial ingredients for people with food intolerances or allergies so they can follow a varied diet and improve their quality of life and, on the other, they will address the food hygiene and safety technologies that will enable better detection of potential allergens and prevent cross-contamination. These advances could help the food industry optimize production processes and improve safety.

The project is being promoted by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) following a call from the National Strategic Consortia in Technical Research (CENIT) of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, with the involvement of other companies in the food industry—such as Angulas Aguinaga, Betelgeux, Biópolis-ADM, Fruselva, Gullón and Paymsa (Carnisa Group)—as well as the consultancy firm F-Iniciativas and the Eurecat Technology Centre, which will provide administrative and scientific support, respectively.

Under the framework of this consortia, over the next four years, Laboratorios Ordesa will conduct different research projects, including their own—at their research centre in Barcelona Science Park—and in partnership with different public and private companies, including: the Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL-CSIC), Universidad de Granada, Universitat de Barcelona, the SNIBA group from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Eurecat, and the companies, Draconis and Life Sequencing-ADM. The aim of these studies is to develop new products for baby food that help in the prevention and treatment of allergies as is the case with the protein in cow’s milk, the most common allergy during the first two years of life.

Leading research at Barcelona Science Park

Since 2007, the Ordesa Group has had an R&D centre at Barcelona Science Park, where it actively participates in clinical studies as well as national and international programmes in the fields of cognitive development and immunological research. The production of hydrolysed cereals, liquid milks and the launch of the first puréed cereals with bifidus and supplemented infant formulas are some of the outcomes from these projects.

This centre, led by Dr Maria Rodríguez-Palmero, Basic Research Director at Laboratorios Ordesa, has cutting edge technology and a highly qualified multidisciplinary scientific team composed of specialists in areas such as nutrition, biotechnology, microbiology and clinical paediatrics.