OPTIFEL
Optimized food products for elderly populations
At a glance
- Project leader : Prof. Dr. Selçuk Yildirim
- Co-project leader : Susanna Miescher
- Project team : Prof. Dr. Christine Brombach
- Project budget : CHF 187'500
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : EU and other international programmes (Grant Agreement FP7-311754)
- Contact person : Selçuk Yildirim
Description
Optilfel has as its ultimate goal to contribute to elders’ health by combating denutrition due to both physical capacities diminution and appetite loss. The concept of Optifel is to translate the knowledge on nutritional needs, food preferences and physical capacities into accurate specifications for food products and packaging. Food products (including packaging and food serving methods) will then be elaborated using both traditional and alternative technologies to meet these specifications and their acceptance tested by elderly. The population targeted by the project is elderly persons cooking at home or making use of meal-on-wheels services for whom the project will conceive food products adapted to their taste, habits, needs and constraints. The range of solutions envisaged span from taste and texture to nutritional quality, and microbial safety through packaging and delivery mode. Optifel will test the approach on fruit and vegetable products, which traditionally constitute a high part of elderly diet, offer great variety, and are amenable to texture manipulation.