Research project Food Intake Ecosystem: Towards a data ecosystem for food and care: Food intake as a stepping stone towards a health data space

General introduction

How can we know the actual nutritional intake of a person (patient, rest home resident...) within a healthcare context? The FINE project is looking for a way to monitor this in a user-friendly way. There is already a lot of knowledge about the positive impact of balanced, available and adapted nutrition on the health of a (in this case, vulnerable) person. However, this positive impact can only be realized if the food that is offered is also consumed. Collecting data on this is useful, in order to be able to adjust quickly if necessary.

Research approach

ILVO is building a data ecosystem for food and care, to motivate Flemish companies active in the food and care sector to get to work in a targeted way. A tool with image recognition is being developed to monitor food intake. The possibilities of data capture in a care context are thus clarified. The first tests and cases may encourage a more data-driven approach.
The target groups are from the care sector, e.g., residential care centers and hospitals and their commercial kitchens as well as from the food sector, e.g., companies that (are interested in) supplying the care sector. In addition, there is a target group of technology providers who offer solutions to the care and food sector regarding meal management, data management, etc.

Relevance/Valorization

FINE will facilitate the development of a data ecosystem for food and healthcare. Here we see the first building block: the capture of food intake data and its link with other data sources in nutrition and healthcare. In this way we take a first step towards a health data space.

Financing

VLAIO