Recipient organisationUniversity of ReadingSource-published name: University of Reading
Funding£261K
PeriodJan 2025 — Jan 2029
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Plant-based yoghurts and cheeses often taste bland or lack key nutrients because the microbial communities that ferment them are poorly understood, and the existing data on these microbes is scattered across incompatible databases. This matters because shifting to sustainable food systems is urgent—animal-based foods account for a large share of Europe’s dietary footprint, yet plant-based alternatives remain nutritionally unbalanced and unappealing to many consumers. Microorganisms have driven fermentation for millennia, improving safety, flavour, and health benefits, but the genetic and functional diversity of the microbes behind plant-based ferments is largely unknown. Existing data are difficult to find, access, or combine because databases are not interoperable. The FAIROmics programme will standardise and link omics data across databases, creating knowledge graphs that allow researchers to rationally design microbial communities for better plant-based fermented foods. If successful, this could quietly reshape food manufacturing and supply chains—enabling producers to engineer ferments that consistently deliver good taste and nutrition without relying on animal ingredients. The project also trains doctoral researchers at the intersection of artificial intelligence, life sciences, and social sciences, building long-term capacity for open-science approaches in food biotechnology.
View original technical description
A transition towards sustainable food systems is urgently needed to face challenges such as climate change or scarcity of resources. Food impact accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Animal-based food products in the European diet is the most important factor determining the footprint of food consumption. Plant-based dairy and meat alternatives have grown in popularity in recent years for various reasons, including sustainability and health benefits as well as lifestyle trends and dietary restrictions. However, plant-based food products can be nutritionally unbalanced, and their flavour profiles may limit their acceptance by consumers. Microorganisms have been used in making food products for millennia. Besides their primary role in food preservation, by virtue of their fermentative metabolism, they contribute to improving food safety and organoleptic properties and can provide additional health-promoting effects. However, the diversity of microbial communities driving plant-based fermentations, as well as their key genetic and phenotypic traits and potential synergies among community members, remain poorly characterized. Many data exist but they are spread into different literatures (scientific and grey) or in best case in different databases, but not always reusable because difficult to find, access and because databases are not systematically interoperable. The FAIROmics innovative interdisciplinary research programme will gather universities and private companies to enable the FAIRification of omics data and databases interoperability, and develop knowledge graphs for data-driven decision making to rationally design microbial communities for imparting desirable characteristics to plant-based fermented foods in the context of open science and its regulations. The FAIROmics training programme aims at developing Doctoral candidates' skills at the interface between artificial intelligence, life sciences, humanities and social sciences.
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