Over 100 delegates attended the BBSRC-sponsored Total Food 2014, an international conference on the sustainable exploitation of agri-food co-products and related biomass. Hosted by the Institute of Food Research, under the auspices of the Royal Society of Chemistry (Food Group), the conference presented the latest research on how to extract potentially valuable compounds from food chain wastes.

Attendees came from Brazil, India, Mexico and across the EU, hearing plenary talks from representatives of WRAP, BBSRC, Defra and industry, along with leading academics. George Freeman MP, Minister for Life Sciences at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department of Health was the specially invited guest at the conference dinner, and spoke of the importance of agri-tech has in increasing sustainability of food production.

Total Food 2014 was the fourth in a series of international conferences, which focus on the whole food production chain from agriculture through to food processing and distribution to the consumer. The success of this conference could be seen in the number of conversations and potential collaborations sparked by bringing experts in different parts of the chain together, with the common goal of reducing waste, generating valuable new products, and overall increasing sustainability.