Gianluca's well packed journey since winning one of our Food Solutions Programmes. Reusing crab shells waste for Sustainable Food Packaging
Following 2 EIT Food Education and 1 Entrepreneurship Programme, being part of the winning team creating their startup, Assistant at University of Aarhus, landing a job at the European Food Safety Authority, at the Food Ingredients and Packaging Unit.
Gianluca, from Italy, tells us how the project impacted his professional journey.
Food Solutions brings together multi-disciplinary teams to tackle real-life industry challenges and develop innovative new solutions for the food system.
Gianluca, what was your Food Solutions challenge about and how did you come to participate?
Gianluca Colombo: ‘I followed the ‘Reuse2Repack’ course in 2022, which was about rethinking food packaging for regenerating resources.
It was not my first nor my last experience with EIT Food.
In 2020, I had followed the EIT Food ‘REPAK’ summer school about packaging sustainability. I participated in the Food Solutions challenge while I was in Denmark with the Erasmus programme during my Master in Food Science in Milano.
So one thing led to another.
In case you think I've always been an international adventurer - that wasn't the case at all. In fact, I used to be very focused on Italy.’
Which idea have you developed during the Food Solutions challenge?
‘For Reuse2Repack, we formed teams and brainstormed about packaging solutions that we then had to pitch.
My team developed a business idea and designed a prototype for sustainable coating in cardboard packaging.
The course was really about learning how to optimise your concept and pitching it with confidence.
The final pitch was in Rome, and as we won the first place, we received a budget for further developing our idea.’
What happened after the course?
‘We also participated in Seedbed, another EIT Food programme for aspiring entrepreneurs.
However, we weren’t ready to create our business at that time.
It did make us think about very concrete business aspects, such as our approach, our business network, our raw material suppliers and target customers.
It was a good way to refine our entrepreneurial story.’
Did the project eventually result in your own company?
‘After the Food Solutions programme, our solution was still in prototype phase but we had already triggered interest from the industry.
The problem was I couldn’t dedicate 100% of my time to our start-up because I was also working as an assistant at the University of Arhus in Denmark.
When I got an interesting job offer at the Food Ingredients and Packaging Unit of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Parma,
I went back to Italy. I left the project in the hands of my partner in Denmark, at the stage when we wanted to patent our idea.
Today, the company has been established.’
Has the experience helped you to get where you’re now?
‘Food Solutions has certainly contributed to my professional journey.
I even gained knowledge on subjects that I wasn’t familiar with, like economy and finance.
It also enhanced my English language skills, which still come in handy in my current job.
Plus, you deal with people from different backgrounds - food scientists, chemists, engineers, ... - which was very enriching.
At the same time, we needed to be able to explain our concept to a non-technical, more business-oriented audience.’
“I gained knowledge on subjects that I wasn’t familiar with, like economy and finance. Plus, you deal with people from different backgrounds - food scientists, chemists, engineers, ... - which was very enriching. At the same time, we needed to be able to explain our concept to a non-technical, more business-oriented audience.”
Would you recommend Food Solutions to others?
‘Most certainly! It’s an opportunity to challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone. If you enjoy an international, open-minded environment, you will get the most out of your participation. A big plus is that you can combine it with your studies, like I did.’
For 2024, we have 3 new Food Solutions Challenges open for applications!
Do you want to contribute to the future transformations of the food system?
EcoBite Delights : While learning about entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, the focus of the challenge will be to produce a sustainable and affordable (25% cheaper than in the current product market) bakery and/or patisserie solid food for a population with special dietary needs such as diabetes, lactose intolerance, or similar.
Pea-licious : The focus of the challenge is to create a convenient and nutritious ready-to-eat meal based on plant-based proteins (from rotatory crops) that meets the dietary preferences and developmental needs of children and fills the existing gap in the plant-based food market.
ZeroWaste Design : This challenge is tackling one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions in the food system: waste. To reduce waste, food and packaging need to be considered together, and we need new innovative solutions.
Students reusing food waste, turn crab shells into food packaging
Note from the Editor:
Gianluca was part of the Seapack Team that won the Food Solutions Reuse2Repack competition in 2022.
Most of packaging of frozen food is currently made with plastic in order to preserve the food and its aroma. To come up with a more sustainable alternative, a group of fellow students at Food Science at Aarhus University founded Seapack and entered the EIT Food Reuse2Repack competition in Rome. Their invention earned them the first prize.
What they invented was a new, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly way to produce a biodegradable coating for paper, which can be used inside paper bags for frozen foods, thereby eliminating plastic. Their coating makes the packaging fully compostable.
To make the coating as environmentally friendly as possible the Seapack team used shells from snow crabs, a waste product in the seafood industry. The shells from crabs and shrimps contain chitosan, which can be extracted and used to prepare a coating for paper bags for frozen food. The Seapack team developed a new way of extract the chitosan more sustainably, and then transformed the chitosan into a film that they stuck to the inside of packaging material.
Source : Aarhus University : Students turn crab shells into food packaging (au.dk)
Gianluca's Seapack Team fellows have in the meantime founded their startup Chitopack.
Source : (2) CHITOPACK: Overview | LinkedIn