foodXPTools

• Overall objective:

Food is at the crossroads of multiple health, social and environmental issues and occupies a central place in national and international public policies. Public authorities and stakeholders must better understand what determines consumer behaviour, in order to identify the most relevant policy instruments and to progress in food design and innovation.

In this respect, new research tools are needed to collect purchase and consumption data in ecological consumption situations. The objective of the project is to develop experimental platforms allowing to observe the consumers in their context, while respecting the fundamental principles of experimental science (control, reproducibility, sampling, etc.).

• Scientific and societal challenges:

The scientific challenges are to characterise the determinants of choices, as well as the conditions and magnitudes of consumer changes. The challenges are also to identify consumer perceptions and behaviour when faced with food innovations, and to determine the trade-offs and compromises between foods and food combinations.

The societal challenges are to bring together a wide range of stakeholders from across the food chain to understand the health, environmental and economic impacts of dietary changes, to assess the consequences of public food and health policies, and to support companies in product reformulation and innovation.

• Project focuses:
Axis 1. To develop a smartphone application to collect information on food behaviour (purchasing and consumption);
Axis 2. Setting up experimental restaurants;
Axis 3. Interactions with other platforms and initiatives.