UCC Launch Food Institute

University College Cork has recently launched its new Food Institute, which represents a growing development in food research and education in Ireland. Jim Corbett, Director of the Food Institute in UCC, described it as "an exciting development which will make a strategic contribution to regional and national food industry development, innovation and success, and which builds upon the strong UCC Food legacy. I am delighted to see such a strong and positive attendance at our launch event and look forward to progressing our aims in close co-operation between my UCC colleagues, government agencies and our indigenous and international food industry partners.”UCC are taking a leading role when it comes to the agri-food sector of late, having announced last year that a new Agricultural Science degree will soon be made available to new incoming students. The college has recently celebrated its 90th year anniversary of food education and the new institute will bring “top tier researchers, educators and industry representatives together in a cross-disciplinary research environment, with a strong industry focus on delivering innovative science and technologies.”UCC continues to be the top university in the country in this sector and moves such as this should see them  reach even higher standards. Uncertainty caused by Brexit may give the Food Institute and UCC the opportunity to attract more foreign and international students to Cork. It is also important for the prosperity of the nation’s agri-food sector as a whole given the complications in the UK. This was referred to by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed, who said, “given the uncertain challenges posed by Brexit, collaboration with other European and International institutes by UCC in areas of research and education can only strengthen and enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of Ireland’s agri-food industry.”