EuroFIR Food

EuroFIR is a European non-profit association based in Brussels that focuses on standardizing and reusing high-quality food composition data. Supported by over 150 members across academia, public authorities, and industry, the organization has spent two decades developing data standards, controlled vocabularies, and quality management procedures to support European health research and evidence-based policymaking.

This preparatory project aims to deliver a validated project charter that supports EuroFIR’s future application to become a thematic EOSC Node. To achieve this, the project evaluates existing data repositories, software assets, and federation capabilities to ensure strict alignment with the EOSC Federation Handbook and the EOSC Interoperability Framework. The initiative will also outline how the organization plans to meet minimum EOSC requirements regarding governance, organizational capacity, technical readiness, and community engagement.

As part of the workplan, partners will define a scientific use case and a demonstration plan to show the practical value of harmonized food data when integrated with other EOSC Nodes. Furthermore, the project outlines EuroFIR’s planned contributions to the EOSC Academy, including training materials and capacity building actions. The final output is a comprehensive project charter detailing the value proposition, service portfolio, governance model, risk analysis, and integration roadmap for the prospective thematic Node.

Integrating the EuroFIR community into the EOSC Federation advances EU Open Science and FAIR data policies by improving food data sharing and interoperability. This integration supports strategic European priorities in public health, food security, and nutrition, providing the harmonized data required for evidence-based science and policy design. Building on previous European investments, the project ensures the continued use and scalability of existing technical infrastructures.

Through this integration, the EOSC Federation gains a new thematic capability in food and nutrition data, addressing a recognized gap in the current landscape. EuroFIR brings established semantic and technical interoperability to the network. Its harmonized data models, controlled vocabularies, and standardized exchange mechanisms, such as the XML-based food data transport package, align with EOSC standards to enable machine-actionable data reuse across domains.

For researchers, this framework improves the discoverability and cross-country comparability of food composition data, directly supporting nutrition epidemiology, exposure assessments, and sustainable diet modeling. Participating organizations and national data providers similarly benefit from access to documented standards and interoperable structures. This shared access reduces duplicated effort, improves operational efficiency, and embeds critical health and diet resources into a sustainable European data ecosystem.

The project delivers scalable outcomes based on EuroFIR’s operational standards and distributed governance. Since these technical assets are already used across multiple European countries, the results can be extended to other national food composition databases and organizations without requiring structural redesign. By aligning with EOSC interoperability policies and FAIR principles, harmonized food data can interface directly with health, environmental, and agricultural datasets across the network.

Sustainability is managed by embedding all project outputs into EuroFIR’s established practices rather than relying on temporary project funding. Governance models, interoperability mappings, and training resources will be maintained by active networks of national data providers and technical partners. This distributed stewardship ensures operational continuity after the initial funding period ends, providing a clear pathway toward formal EOSC Node enrollment.

To drive adoption, the project will engage with European research infrastructures, the European Food Safety Authority, and user communities in nutrition and public health. Training materials and procedural guidance will be distributed through EuroFIR channels and the EOSC Academy. By improving technical interoperability and reducing duplicated effort, the project ensures its resources remain extensible and firmly embedded within the European open science ecosystem.