FAIRCHAIN addresses the growing need for a significant transformation of current food systems by developing competitive intermediate food chain alternatives adapted to small and mid-sized actors. FAIRCHAIN specifically aims to: -Foster the emergence of innovative intermediate food value chains that support the scaling-up of small and mid-sized actors facing unsustainable conventional dominant agri-food system. This requires to specific technological, organisational and social innovations as well as regulatory and policy adaptations to widely deliver food in a fair and sustainable way. -Inspire and encourage larger actors to down-scale conventional food value chains and better address the growing need of consumers to consume local high quality and safe products. The emergence of intermediate food value chains should put pressure on dominant actors, forcing them to align with best practices in terms of offering opportunities to local suppliers and ensuring an equitable distribution of costs and benefits. The main goal of FAIRCHAIN is to test, pilot and demonstrate recently developed technological, organisational and social innovations, realising a shift up to TRL7 and enabling small and mid-sized actors to scale-up and expand the production of affordable nutritious food in competitive intermediate food value chains. FAIRCHAIN will address the dairy and fruit&vegetable sectors, which hold a strategic economic position in Europe. Both are prone to integrate a large variety of innovations, correspond to an increasing consumer demand for nutritious and healthy food and need to meet the challenge of sustainably delivering perishable commodities to consumers. FAIRCHAIN will consider the entire value chain. More focus is given to postharvest steps rather than the production step in itself because the power imbalances created in market relationships are mainly attributed to the increasing concentration in the processing and retail sectors in conventional food supply chains

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) constitute a main health concern in industrialized countries. Their incidence is currently about 1% of the population in these countries. In addition to some genetic predisposition, they are linked to lifestyle and diet. They are caused by a disregulation of the immune system leading to disequilibrium between protection towards pathogens and tolerance towards gut commensal bacteria. Intestinal inflammation, key factor in IBD, can be partly treated by consumption of bacterial strains selected for their immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. In this context, the effect of some bacteria commercialized in this aim, mainly belonging to the genus Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus, was thoroughly studied. Propionibacterium freudenreichii (Pf) and Lactobacillus delbrueckii (Ld) are two bacterial species massively used as starters in fermented dairy products. Despite this massive use, the anti-inflammatory potential of these two species is surprisingly rarely studied. Pf is massively ingested via the consumption of Swiss type cheeses and of a growing number of other cheeses in which this starter is more and more used to improve organoleptic properties. Ld is very abundant in various fermented dairy products. The subspecies lactis is more and more used in Swiss type cheeses because of its acidifying abilities. As an example, one gram of Emmental cheese contains 108 to 109 cells of Pf and 103 to 109 cells of Ld, which are potentially immunomodulatory. The Ld subspecies bulgaricus is also highly consumed in various fermented milks, including yogurt. In the SURFING project, we will focus on the immunomodulatory properties of these two dairy starters. Indeed, cheeses and fermented milks already on the market contain high amounts of Pf and Ld. These two bacteria can thus help in treating IBD, via specific surface components showing variable anti-inflammatory properties which are crucial and should be characterized. Our preliminary results revealed anti-inflammatory properties which are highly strain-dependent in both Pf and Ld. One selected strain of each species was tested in an experimental model of colitis in mice and revealed a promising protective effect. The aims of the SURFING project are: 1- Show that the ingestion of Pf or of Ld can have an anti-inflammatory impact in the context of IBD. 2- Identify the surface proteins responsible for the two species immunomodulatory properties 3- Elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the immune response triggered in vitro and in vivo in epithelial cells 4- Confirm the presence of the key surface immunomodulatory proteins in real conditions during starter preparation and dairy products making using these Pf and Ld starters.