Food Chemistry and Technology thematic area is committed to contribute to a food environment that facilitates healthy and sustainable choices, promoting sustainable diets that mitigate life-threatening diseases. It is also aiming to step up food waste throughout the whole food chain, particularly at retail and consumer levels. Achieving these goals involves enhancing food quality, ensuring authenticity, and effectively controlling allergens, additives, natural toxins, and chemical contaminants. It also includes the optimization of advanced food processing methods and the development of novel processed products to enhance both nutritional and sensory characteristics of food, while maintaining their safety and traceability. As a consequence, research activities are directed towards the conservation of natural resources, promoting sustainable procedures and technologies to minimize food loss and waste. This allows to implement circular economy principles across the entire food system, mitigating its environmental impact. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the protective effect of nutrients and bioactive compounds and reducing the incidence of non-communicable diet-related diseases are also crucial areas of investigation of this thematic area.

These domains are in line with the Food 2030 EU's research and innovation policy framework, supporting the transition towards sustainable, healthy, and inclusive food systems, essential for achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, the policy objectives of the Farm-to-Fork Strategy ("Our food, our health, our planet, our future"), and the EU Green Deal.