As part of the online event “Food standards in a scientific and sustainable environment“, framed within the World Food Safety Day 2023 (#WSFD2023), the European Green Week (#EUGreenWeek) and the European Year of Skills (#EuropeanYearOfSkills), Dr. Carmen de Vega (CEO/Chief Administrative of ACTAE) presented the European Erasmus+ project “EQVEGAN”, which stands for “European Qualifications and Competences for the vegan food industry”. The online event was organized by FEDALCYTA-Federation of Food Science and Technology Associations, an organization that ACTAE has chaired since 2016, with the support of the Food Campus of the University of Barcelona on June 7, 2023.

About 80 participants followed this activity online. Given the diversity of the participants (students, researchers, educators, food companies and governmental agencies), the focus was placed on two pillars: updating professional profiles based on current trends in the processed vegetable sector and designing qualified training to improve the competitiveness of these professionals. The EQVEGAN working group has updated 3 ESCO professional profiles, namely that of the food operator (EQF4), food technician (EQF5) and food technologist (EQF6-7). For the latter profile, 17 new knowledge and 18 skills have been included, described in detail in Deliverable 1.2 and presented to the responsible authorities at ESCO this May. At the same time, the EQVEGAN project developed training modules to achieve said knowledge and skills, which can be certified at European level in the future.

During the online event some of the main sections of the EQVEGAN website were also explained, highlighting the project video and the Activities section, where information about the work packages and the projects deliverables can be found. The presentation concluded with the Food Skills Platform, which will continue to run once the EQVEGAN project ends at the end of November, where useful information can be obtained by professionals, employers, or even training organizations. Participants were shown the “Training” section, the “Learn at Workplace” section with its work-based learning opportunities and guidelines, and the “Stakeholders” section where professionals can register to access advantages and information about these activities.

The recording of the presentation (in Spanish) can be found on EQVEGAN’s YouTube channel and some more images of the presentation in our Photo Gallery.