The EQVEGAN project started past 7 December 2020 with an online meeting which gathered 14 project partners including companies, industry federations, professional associations, training providers, qualification agencies and governmental institutions from 10 European countries. The three years project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union with about one million euros.

A VEGAN FOOD INDUSTRY BETTER PREPARED FOR THE CURRENT MARKET CHALLENGES

The vegan food industry is gaining more relevance in the food sector, based on the consumer trend toward plant-based diets. Nevertheless, vegan producers must master new processes and technologies to maintain their competitiveness. Additionally, the food industry is subject to more demanding sustainability requirements, that together with digitalization and automatization trends, are quickly changing the required skills of its workers. Trainings covering these issues are needed to support the quick change towards the vegan food industry adapted to Industry 4.0.
EQVEGAN (European Qualifications & Competences for the Vegan Food Industry) will design and offer innovative trainings to professionals and students from secondary and higher education in 7 languages (English, Croatian, Finnish, French, Polish, Portuguese and Turkish). The project will develop a Skills Portal that will include a stakeholder’s database, reviewed occupational profiles, and an apprenticeship database. A European scheme for job profile certification will be devised and guidelines for recognition informed by sectoral qualifications will be prepared, promoting the trans-national mobility of professionals, that ultimately will be leading to an effective impact in the EU food industry.
Project coordinator Rui Costa (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra) presented a project overview and the work plan for the first year. The work to be done for identifying training needs, new professional profiles, quality assurance of the project, dissemination activities and project management was also described by the respective work package leaders. Additionally, all partners gave a brief presentation of their institutions and project responsibilities.
For more information, contact the EQVEGAN Dissemination team ([email protected])

Acknowledgements:

EQVEGAN project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. This communication reflects only the authors’ view, and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.