FIRM call announced

Last week, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food invited applications for funding under the Food Institutional Research Measure. The measure, funded under the National Development Plan 2007-2013, provides funding for “public good” research that is neither commissioned nor carried out in-house by individual companies. We were delighted to see the following, amongst other areas, included:

• Novel and/or biofunctional ingredients - their delivery and application in the meat, beverages, cheese and snack food sectors.
• Diversification of the cheese product portfolio including new and innovative applications for cheese and ingredient-type cheese

FIRM is the principal source of funding for cheese research in Ireland so I expect we will have a busy couple of weeks in the lead-up to the deadline on April 3. Luckily, the FIRM call coincides with the 5th IDF Symposium on Cheese Ripening which will be held in Bern in early March. No doubt, we will come home with a few good ideas for our FIRM proposals"