Foundation Earth is excited to enter a collaboration agreement with DIL, The German institute of Food Technologies (DIL Technologie GmbH). The partnership fits into our strategy to bring together leading actors in LCA developments to work towards a standardised approach to food ecolabelling.

DIL is a private, independent, Research and Technology Institute forming a bridge between science and practice, working in the areas of product development, process development and food system analysis. The institute supports over 200 partners in the food sector with their innovation processes.

As well as undertaking Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) on food and drink products under the Foundation Earth method, DIL, who is also a partner of EIT Food, will collaborate with us on research and development in the areas of:

  • Further development and testing on the Foundation Earth methodology, aligned with the European Union-backed Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology
  • Conduction of PEF-based LCAs for food and drink companies
  • Developing a data quality indicator and a minimum data standard for the methodology

For DIL, this partnership presents an excellent opportunity to provide experience on PEF for the food industry, and to reach out to more stakeholders in the German and European market, raising awareness of the ECO IMPACT labels across the EU: “This is unique opportunity to create a unified method applied to the food product from cradle to gate, reflecting on the environmental hotspots in a transparent and trustable way,” says Peter Holl, Deputy Head of Brussels Office, Senior Manager EU Programmes Networks at DIL.

“Building strategic partnerships with LCA providers is bringing us closer and closer to harmonising ecolabelling across the EU, with more actors applying the Foundation Earth method for food product scoring. We are pleased to welcome DIL to our pool of experts, leveraging their vast experience in environmental impact assessments and food technologies,”says Cliona Howie, CEO at Foundation Earth.