New Chairman Future Food Utrecht - Prof. Dr. Johan Garssen

Future Food Utrecht is proud to present its new chairman Prof. Dr. Johan Garssen. Bringing along extensive experience in both food and pharma, we strongly believe in his ability to lead Future Food into a vibrant future combining food-related questions of sustainability and health. Johan has a clear dream and vision for Future Food. “I want us to develop bold research projects that cover the entire food chain. We need to stick our neck out”.

Prof. Dr. Johan Garssen is head of the Pharmacology division (Science Faculty) and has an important advisory role at Nutricia Research. He has been involved in Future Food Utrecht since the very beginning. “I have very good memories of those early days of Future Food. Together with Rens Voesenek, Future Food’s first chairman, we travelled around Europe to position the Hub within the world of research and practice. I am very happy to continue that work now, nearly five years later”, Johan states.

For Future Food I want us to develop bold research projects that cover the entire food chain.

He has a clear dream and vision for Future Food. “I want us to develop bold research projects that cover the entire food chain”, he decisively states. “We need to stick our neck out”. Johan has experience in this respect. As a member of the Scientific Council for Integral Sustainable Agriculture and Nutrition, he was involved in a recently published and much-debated report that, among other things, advised the Dutch government to impose levies on sugar, meat and ultra-processed foods and ban junk-food advertising aimed at children. “We all want to live on a healthy planet and have access to food that keeps us healthy. In addition, we want our food to be produced and processed efficiently and sustainably by people whose work allows them to live happy and healthy lives. These questions, which we at Future Food also refer to as ‘Healthy Planet Diet’, are all connected and require novel perspectives”.

According to Johan Garssen, Future Food Utrecht is strongly positioned to provide such ground-breaking ideas. “At Future Food Utrecht we are able to combine the expertise of many different disciplinary backgrounds. We for example have experts on agriculture, ecology, health, psychology, sociology, economics, geography. A unique asset that is of great value”.

It is this extraordinary interdisciplinary melting pot that Johan Garssen intends to strengthen and develop further. We have full trust in his ability to achieve this task as his favourite food also includes an important melting process. “I love raclette”, he laughs. When possible, I source my own Alp Cheese in Switzerland, take it home and mount it on my own ‘raclonette’”.

If you have a Future Food related question for Johan Garssen please send an email to: futurefood@uu.nl