€17m in grant aid for food projects

Grant assistance of €17 million has been approved for 36 food research projects, Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh announced yesterday.

This brings to €55m the total funding approved for the Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM) under the National Development Plan 2000-2006.

Grants being awarded cover themes across the food sector. In total, 132 proposals were received from universities, institutes of technology and Teagasc food research centres in response to an open call for proposals.