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Food Loss in History. Insights into the food produced but never consumed

Objective

This project outlines a study on food losses in Modern Times which explores reasons,magnitude and features of food wastage in the past. The research will focus on northern Italy, although, whenever allowed, a comparative perspective will be adopted, providing insights into the European scenario. By ‘food loss’ literature refers to the food produced and yet turned inedible for a number of reasons: nowadays, as well as in the past, food loss accounts for a significant part of the overarching term ‘food wastage’. Essentially food loss remains distinct from ‘food waste’, since the former takes place at production, post-harvest and processing stages, whilst the latter, much more widely debated, occurs only at the end of the food chain. Focusing on well-documented and highly representative case-studies,this research will investigate the incidence of grain losses as a whole, its core features and its main consequences against the backdrop of pre-industrial Europe. Accounting records combined with relevant scientific literature of the time will cast a light on grain losses occurring at storage and processing stages. By bringing new data on cereal preservation in a chemical-free setting, this study will provide an original contribution to the current food wastage debate.
Unlike food waste, commonly treated as a cultural phenomenon, food loss tends to be accounted as a mere technical issue, therefore disengaging humanities and social sciences specialists as a whole. This study will highlight to what extent cultural aspects, such as scientific knowledge, belief system and local policy would play a role in this process. As a matter of fact, food loss is still nowadays considered as a prominent issue even in areas endowed with adequate facilities and avant-garde technologies, pointing out that innovative models for future supply chains need an holistic and creative approach to which historical knowledge can be highly beneficial.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF-EF-RI - RI – Reintegration panel

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2017

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 180 277,20
Address
PIAZZA DELL'ATENEO NUOVO 1
20126 Milano
Italy

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Region
Nord-Ovest Lombardia Milano
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 180 277,20
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