HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-08 Supporting pre-normative research for standardization of the bio-based products

1) Ecodesign and sustainability of bio-based products

§Design and validate a sustainable, reproducible and scalable process for obtaining postbiotics ingredient from functionally relevant strains + functional assessment, safety, standardization and regulatory compliance.

§Identify technical performance requirements for bio-based materials for food applications, including food contact, preservation needs, barrier properties and material functionality.

§Define specifications for final bio-based packaging solutions and validate their functional performance under industrial conditions: barrier behaviour, durability (heat/sterilisation), Modified Atmosphere compatibility, shelf-life extension potential, and Food Contact Compatibility (FCC: global and specific migration).*

§Pilot-scale validation of novel packaging solutions, including pre-series production (50–100 kg/h) of packaged food products to assess industrial feasibility.*

§Selection of representative food matrices and definition of end-use performance criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of bio-based packaging across different value chains.

§Assessment of enhanced functional characteristics of the new materials at pilot scale for their integration in food industry processes.

2)Pre-normative research and standardization support

§Identify gaps in methods and quality standards for novel bio-based ingredients and fermentation-derived products.

§Verify the regulatory status of new bio-based materials and products for food contact applications at national (Spain) and EU level.

§Demonstrate safety of new packaging materials, including FCC (global and specific migration), and tests required under EU FCM legislation.

3) Stakeholder engagement and community building

§Engage industrial partners from the agri-food sector through CNTA’s network of associated companies.

§Evaluate and promote the readiness of packaging producers, food companies and consumers (Spain and EU) to adopt new bio-based solutions using focus groups, interviews, surveys, workshops and co-creation methodologies.

§Support knowledge transfer through guidelines and dissemination materials targeting relevant stakeholders in the agri-food sector.

CNTA was a partner of PARABIOTICS and PREDISMET, which aimed to identify and develop probiotic, prebiotic and/or postbiotic agents that modulate the gut microbiota, and to characterize them functionally and safely for future food or health-applications.

In the project NEWPACK, CNTA validated the production of two new bio-plastics based on PHB-PLA blends with antioxidant/antibacterial properties and nanoadditives from cellulose and chitin.