LEBENSMITTELVERSUCHSANSTALT

Their core work

LVA (Lebensmittelversuchsanstalt) is an Austrian food testing and research institute based in Vienna, specializing in food quality analysis, safety testing, and process optimization. They contribute laboratory and pilot-scale expertise to EU projects focused on food waste valorization, biorefinery processing, cold chain efficiency, and consumer-facing food safety research. Their work spans the full food value chain — from agricultural waste treatment and extraction technologies to consumer perception studies on food products like sweeteners and seafood.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

LVA's early H2020 work (2016–2018) centered on hands-on processing technologies — biorefinery pilot plants, extraction methods, filtration, and thermal/enzymatic treatment of agricultural waste. Their later projects (2018–2022) shifted toward consumer-facing and systems-level topics: consumer perceptions of sweeteners and supply chain energy efficiency. This suggests a broadening from lab-bench food processing toward understanding how food products perform in the market and across logistics chains.

LVA is moving from pure food technology and lab work toward consumer insights and supply chain optimization, making them increasingly relevant for projects that bridge technical food science with market readiness.

How they like to work

LVA participates exclusively as a third-party contributor — they have never coordinated or been a direct partner in any of their five H2020 projects. This means they are brought in by consortium partners for specific testing, analysis, or pilot-scale validation tasks. Despite this supporting role, they have been connected to 131 unique partners across 24 countries, indicating they are a trusted specialist that larger consortia call upon when they need accredited food testing or laboratory capabilities.

Through their third-party roles, LVA has been exposed to 131 unique consortium partners across 24 countries, giving them a surprisingly broad European network for a small research centre. Their connections span food, energy, and marine sectors across most of the EU.

What sets them apart

LVA occupies a specific niche as an accredited food testing institute that doubles as a research partner — they bring regulated laboratory infrastructure and food safety expertise that academic partners often lack. Their SME status and third-party role make them a low-overhead, high-value addition to consortia needing independent food quality validation or pilot-scale processing support. For anyone building a food-related consortium, LVA offers the kind of certified testing capability that satisfies both scientific rigor and regulatory requirements.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AgriMax
  Most technically rich project for LVA, involving pilot-plant biorefinery processing with multiple extraction and treatment technologies for agri-food waste valorization.
• SWEET
  Represents LVA's shift toward consumer-facing research, studying perceptions and preferences around sweeteners — a topic with direct food industry and public health relevance.
• ICCEE
  Bridges LVA's food expertise with energy efficiency, applying cold chain optimization to the food and beverage supply chain.