J (Joost) Blankestijn

Programme Manager "Sustainable Nutrition Foods" at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, part of the Management-Team of the institute representing the business development and programme management team. Furthermore, active member of WUR's Business Development core-team responsible for the long term strategy to secure the impactful market position of WUR with a diverse client portfolio.

In my programme, many Wageningen scientists are involved from a broad range of expertise. Guided by the interconnectedness of food production, consumption, and environmental impact. I take a leading role in supporting the food industry by facilitating access to applied science and technology and enable the development of innovative manufacturing and processing technologies that enhance the safety, health benefits, and environmental sustainability of food products. We're working on various solutions:

Microbes Relevant to Food Production:
Microbes play a dual role in food production, leading to beneficial but also harmful effects. They are employed to produce food and ingredients in fermentation processes. At the same time, growth and contamination of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms is an important cause of food loss or even illness.

Smart and Sustainable Food Processing:
The world population is expanding and the demand for healthy, sustainable food with less packaging, loss and waste is growing quickly. Worldwide food production is under huge pressure to change towards smart industry practices. Smart digital technologies are opening a multitude of opportunities for optimizing production processes, making them more sustainable and more flexible.

Innovative Food Formulation:
Foods that are energy dense and nutrient poor are widely available at different points of sale. As a result, many people are eating large amounts of food high in fat, sugars and salt/sodium; this leads to unhealthy diets, that may result in a wide range of illnesses. At the same time, the need for sustainable and safe food ingredients in an unsettled world gives tremendous challenges to the food industry. In this context, food formulation is crucial for a transition towards healthy and sustainable diets.

DON’T HESITATE TO CONTACT ME!
Feel free to contact me to explore the possibilities of collaboration with Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR). For more information on the kind of research WFBR can offer, check the website links under ‘contact details’ in this profile. If you wish to contact me for other reasons, please do.

Phone: +31 317 48 55 14 | E-mail: joost.blankestijn@wur.nl