ALLIANCE

The Kick-off Meeting of the HORIZON project “ALLIANCE — A hoListic framework in the quality Labelled food supply chain systems’ management towards enhanced data Integrity and verAcity, interoperability, traNsparenCy, and tracEability ” successfully took place physically on December 19-20,2022 at the Tsalapata building Conference Venue, in Volos, Greece. It was organized by the project’s coordinator PANEPISTIMIO THESSALIAS (UTH),marking the official launch of the project’s activities.

The meeting was inaugurated with a welcoming session from Professor Thanasis Korakis, of PANEPISTIMIO THESSALIAS.

The Kick-off Meeting allowed partners to discuss the project procedures, establishing the guidelines for a successful and effective implementation. A review and in-depth examination of all project activities and deliverables set in the project proposal were made.

These project results were discussed in detail and after that all partners engaged in a conversation regarding project management,financial monitoring, dissemination, quality assurance, evaluation, and monitoring. Finally, the consortium set the general timeframe for the upcoming events of the project that include transnational project meetings and dissemination events.

ALLIANCE represents a paradigm shift in the Food Supply Chain System’s management for the combat against Food Fraud, distinguishing from the traditionally approaches that leverage monolithic digitalized logistic solutions and standalone FSC interoperability protocols.

ALLIANCE aims to provide a holistic framework that safeguards data integrity and veracity, enhances traceability and transparency and reinforces interoperability in quality labelled supply chain of organic, PDO, PGI, and GI food, through innovative technology solutions and validated approaches (such as distributed ledger technologies supported by IoT sensing devices, providing extensible anchors to interoperability protocols and use of in-situ portable rapid testing devices to detect adulteration and verify food origin and authenticity) and fosters evidence-based decision making through AI and ML for preventative interventions and actionable planning. The proposed framework will improve social and economic sustainability of quality labelled food supply chains by ensuring quality & authenticity, increasing food safety, while also considering climatic and environmental impacts of food products.
The technologies to be employed in this project will be described and demonstrated in detail to reach higher technology readiness levels (TRLs) and enable smooth and rapid adoption by all stakeholders.