The Food4Health Community Lab in Tricase opened to visitors! – On Saturday, May 18th the Food4Health Community Lab in Tricase (Italy) has been opened to visitors: an innovative model for shared local agriculture and fishery production and value addition.
The laboratory has been the result of an Interreg Italia – Albania – Montenegro project, coordinated by the Apulia Region of Italy, in partnership with CIHEAM Bari and the Municipality of Tricase.
Indeed, the collaboration among CIHEAM Bari and Tricase Municipality is long lasting: Tricase hosts since more than one decade the blue economy outpost of CIHEAM Bari, the international institution headquartered in Paris and counting other offices along the coasts of the Mediterranean.
In this nutritious and international context, the Community Laboratory has been opened to visitors
The Community Lab model has been created to support small and local farmers: indeed, in the Lab local Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) can share common technologies, competencies and production techniques in order to divide the management costs that would become a burden for the individual producer. Indeed, the Community Lab it has been managed until now by a cooperative of local agricultural and fishery MSMEs that had the possibility to transform their own products firsthand.
FOOD4HEALTH Lab is an unique initiative aiming to enhance the competitiveness of MSMEs and favour the access to the market through the improvement of production techniques, the transfer, sharing and adoption of European quality standards and the enhancement of typical and traditional products of the agri-food sector and fisheries.
FOOD4HEALTH Lab represents an integrated community of farmers and fishers together
Specifically, the different small units of laboratory can be used for processing and value-adding honey, fish and agricultural products.
Furthermore, the infrastructure includes a common full equipped show cooking area and market place.
Moreover, the Laboratory represent a suitable place for the community to host cultural events, projects, and education activities related to health, local and ethical food, traditional cooking recipes and food tasting.
The great innovation that the Community Laboratory exemplifies is its replicability: indeed, in a Mediterranean international cooperation perspective, the opportunity to give MSMEs a common place where to transform and add value to their food products is perfectly replicable by other countries.
It is a common management of shared technologies and it is also a place of learning, growth, development of skills, knowledge and abilities, a fundamental tool to support and accompany every small and, above all, young business initiative.
A community food processing plant significantly alleviates the initial investment for individual small producers and facilitates the activation of startups in the food industry. By providing access to expensive equipment and shared resources, these Lab reduce the costs that individual small local producers and startups would otherwise incur. They enable quick market entry since the facilities are often pre-approved and comply with health and safety regulations, eliminating lengthy approval processes. Enterprises can benefit from shared expertise, networking opportunities, and a supportive community that fosters innovation and collaboration.
The Community Lab “Food4Health” is a new, innovative and original concept of an organic complex of structures for the transformation of primary products and the provision of integrated services, aimed at connecting the sea with the hinterland to satisfy a common need for a service to the community, such as the processing of agricultural and fish products, grown and fished by members of the community. The agricultural and fishing micro-enterprises of the area can transform, in compliance with the rules to protect food safety, promote, enhance and offer their typical and traditional products and services.
The Food4Health Community Lab in Tricase opened to visitors!
