Chain Information for structuring product development in food chains

In the last years the market for food products has changed dramatically. High production levels have lead to saturated markets in most of the western countries. Furthermore the demand for food has changed because of demographic changes (e.g. ageing of the population, changed composition of household). Also the role of the consumer has changed. They are better educated and better informed and have higher demands towards the product assortment and the product quality.
The changes mentioned above and the high development costs force the modern producer of food products to (faster) deliver new products that are perfectly tuned to the wishes and demands of the market. Structuring and control of the product development process are an absolute necessity to develop successful food products.
To structure the product development process a large amount of complex information in the complete food pro-duction chain is necessary. This information supply is essential to shorten the development time and to reduce the risk of failure. This information will only be shared if there is a clear benefit for every actor in the chain, both on a long as on a short term basis. At this moment the information supply in the food product development proc-ess is not structured.
The aim of this project is the development of a model to gather and structure the chain-information that is needed by every actor in the food production chain for an efficient (consumer-oriented) and effective (structured) food product development process.