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Ordesa will develop food products for the elderly

By 2 de December de 2013November 18th, 2020No Comments
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Members of Ordesa Research Center based in PCB © Parc Científic de Barcelona.
 02.12.2013

Ordesa will develop food products for the elderly

Thanks to the preclinical studies conducted by the Laboratorios Ordesa Research Center, located at the Barcelona Science Park –under the project Senifood– the group has filed several patents that will allow the development of specific products to improve the nutritional status and health of elderly people. Senifood - which officially ended last October-, was one of the 18 major R&D projects approved in the 5th call of the National Strategic Consortia for Technical Research program (CENIT-I), created by the former Ministry of Science and Innovation in 2006 to encourage public-private partnerships in industrial research, and which concluded in 2010.


The collaboration of Laboratorios Ordesa in the Senifood consortium focused on identifying and quantifying the effects of nutrition on metabolic programming in the elderly and on identifying the mechanisms and critical periods in which this effect is exerted.

The company´s R&D team at the PCB isolated and identified 295 probiotic strains of interest for use in food and has obtained several hydrolized peptides from food-derived proteins with antidiarrheal properties. The results have helped to develop purees and creams specifically designed for people with dysphagia and were geared toward the elderly with new textures and flavors more suitable for this population group.

The involvement of Laboratorios Ordesa in this new area will not affect the core of interest of its main activity, children´s food, where the company will continue to focus its research capacity. In the last 3 years, Ordesa has developed a total of 53 projects in collaboration with a network of over 200 researchers throughout Spain. Last June, Laboratoris Ordesa created the first chair in Spain specializing in children´s food.

Since 2007, Grup Ordesa has had a research center at the Barcelona Science Park and a pilot lactic plant at the Girona Technology Center (IRTA Girona). In the 2012-2013 period, researchers at Ordesa have been focuseing their efforts in the areas of intestinal health and immune system, cognitive function, and obesity in children.

R&D aims to improve nutrition in the elderly

Senifood (acronym for industrial research of diets and foods with specific characteristics for the elderly) is one of the largest Spanish industrial research projects under the CENIT´s support program for R&D, promoted by the previous Ministry of Science and Innovation, funded through the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI). The consortium has involved the participation of a broad range of Spanish organizations: four manufacturers of functional ingredients, seven manufacturers of food products, a foundation for health, longterm care, and social services for the elderly, and a network of technology centers and universities.

The Project –created in 2009 and endowed with a budget of 24,604,997€– comes to an end four years later, after having met its goal which was to improve the life of the elderly through their diet. New scientific knowledge has been generated. New ingredients with a potential beneficial effect on the most common metabolic diseases in this population age group have been designed and validated using different food matrices. Functional claims have been scientifically endowed by means of in vitro and in vivo studies as well as clinical trials. During the execution period, the consortium obtained 7 patents and authored over 50 publications in high impact indexed international scientific journals.