President Carles Puigdemont visits Food and Nutrition Torribera campus

The node of Torribera Premises (Santa Coloma de Gramenet) of the Studies and Gastronomic Research Centre of Catalonia (CERGC) is one of the projects that are promoted by this university campus and which wants to promote R+D+i in gastronomic sciences in Catalonia throughout a consortium in which all the actors of the Catalan gastronomic cluster are represented. In September 2015, the Generalitat de Catalunya approved of a special act for the University of Barcelona to elaborate the proposal report, in collaboration with Celler de Can Roca, IRTA and Alícia Foundation, and preparing the action plan which allows creating this centre within “Catalonia, European Region of Gastronomy 2016” and which has been handed in to the President today.

The future headquarters of this centre will be a 4.000 square-metered building which is already included in the modification of the General Metropolitan Plan for the Torribera Premises (promoted by the Diputació de Barcelona). The Food and Nutrition Torribera Campus of the University of Barcelona has been one of the chosen places within the institutional visit of the President Puigdemont in the city of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, together with the Foundation of Hospital Esperit Sant, both members of the project “Santa Coloma Ciutat Universitària” together with UNED and Centre Assistencial Emili Mira (Hospital del Mar).

Throughout the visit, the attendants could see different facilities of the Teaching Laboratories Building (3.500 m2) such as cooking and research spaces and cooking exhibitions, teaching laboratories or Sala Alella, a sensory analysis space. They could also talk to the students and know about their activities and the degree of satisfaction of the new teaching infrastructures. Among the attendance there were Núria Parlón, Mayor of Santa Coloma; Arcadi Navarro, Secretary of Universities and Research of the Generalitat; and Joan Esteva, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences.

About the Food and Nutrition Torribera Campus

The Food and Nutrition Torribera Campus of the University of Barcelona is a thematic and territorial campus that shares the will of seeing the University of Barcelonaʼs potential in the food sector and which is born from the agreement -signed in 2007- between Diputació de Barcelona and the UB. This agreement has been strengthened with the processing of the Modification of the General Metropolitan Plan of the Torribera Premises, by Diputació de Barcelona, which brings important academic projects in the food and gastronomy fields. The Food and Nutrition Campus includes the Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Gastronomy of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the University of Barcelona.

The campus has 850 bachelor, master and doctorate students, and the University of Experience, and more than 150 teachers and researchers -in more than 10.000m2 of services, teaching spaces and specialized laboratories, teacher offices and R+D laboratories. It offers three bachelor degrees: Human Nutrition and Dietetics (NHD); Food Science and Technology (CTA); and Culinary and Gastronomic Sciences (CCiG), the latter in collaboration with ESAB-PC, 1 affiliated centre CETT-UB and Alícia Foundation. It also has, among others, the master degree in Food Safety and the specific master degree in Nutrition in Physical Activity and Sports.

The campus has a strong social projection, since it holds activities in collaboration with foundations, such as Red Cross, Ajudaʼm Foundation, Cuina Justa, Catalan Cuisine Institute Foundation, UB-Danone Chair and the Meat and Health Chair, among other projects.