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A CHIPPING Campden Research Centre has received £1.2 million of funding that will thrust it to the forefront of the high-profile national campaign to reduce food packaging in shops.

Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association (CCFRA) has received the money to fund three or four sustainability research projects that it will conduct to publish reports on food production and packaging in the United Kingdom.

It will also look into how to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy recovery, while seeking new ways to recycle materials used in food production.

One of the projects will be funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), working closely with Bath University.

It will see Gary Tucker lead a CCFRA team that will report to Defra on the relative importance of greenhouse gas emissions in the food production cycle that includes cooking, freezing, refrigeration, food waste and packaging.

The other projects have been chosen and will be funded by member companies of CCFRA, the world's biggest membership-based food and drink research centre.

Dr Mike Stringer, CCFRA food technology director, said the food industry contributes about 10 per cent of the total amount of industrial waste in the United Kingdom and is also a big energy user, accounting for 14 per cent of the energy consumed by British industry.

He said: "This work puts us at the forefront of food resource management.

"Minimising food packaging waste and increasing the use of biodegradable materials are now high on the green agenda and a new project, funded by CCFRA member companies, will tackle this challenge.

"In all walks of life, consumers are becoming more aware of the need to take a responsible attitude to using natural resources and one of the most efficient ways of achieving this is through new processing techn- ology."

11:52am Thursday 1st May 2008

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