News detail

Fischer and Durner in the vineyard

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Fischer appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the FEI

At the Wine Campus Neustadt, we work diligently and passionately on a wide range of research projects for the wine industry. This consists almost exclusively of small and medium-sized companies. But can these companies even afford research or its results? Fortunately, the answer is "yes". Among other things, we have the Forschungskreis der Ernährungsindustrie e.V. (FEI) as the central organization of the German food industry to thank for this. Since 1 July 2020, our colleague Prof. Dr. Ulrich Fischer has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, one of the most important management bodies of the FEI: https://www.fei-bonn.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/pm-20200630-zugewinn

Current RDI projects at the Wine Campus/DLR:

  • Minimizing climate-induced off-flavours in white wine     (Ulrich Fischer, Jochen Bogs, Matthias Petgen)
  • Adaptation of red winemaking to the phenolic ripeness of grapes    (Dominik Durner, Pascal Wegmann-Herr)
  • Use of UV-C for wine stabilization     (Maren Scharfenberger-Schmeer, Dominik Durner)
  • Rapid test for the detection of harmful bacteria in wine  (Maren Scharfenberger-Schmeer)
  • Minimization strategy against mouse taint in wine   (Maren Scharfenberger-Schmeer, Friederike Rex, Pascal Wegmann-Herr)       
  • Avoiding aroma carryover during the bottling of sparkling wine and wine   (Ulrich Fischer)
  • Reduction of acetic acid formation through modern fermentation processes   (Maren Scharfenberger-Schmeer, Dominik Durner)


About the FEI:

The German food industry is one of the four largest economic sectors in Germany, with 6,100 industrial companies, over 30,000 food trade businesses and over 1 million employees. It is strongly characterized by medium-sized companies and numerous family businesses: 98% of companies have fewer than 500 employees. As a rule, they do not have the resources to carry out research themselves - they are dependent on Industrial Collective Research (IGF) to secure their competitiveness and maintain their technological performance and innovative capacity. The funding program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) has proven its worth in promoting SMEs since 1954, as it directly involves small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular in research activities and thus ensures the practical relevance of the results.
Since 1954, IGF projects for the industry, its suppliers and numerous mechanical and plant engineering companies have been coordinated by the Forschungskreis der Ernährungsindustrie e.V. (FEI), the central research organization of the German food industry, which is supported by 49 trade associations: results from over 1,000 IGF projects of the FEI have since been successfully implemented in operational practice and are now state of the art - thus contributing to the outstanding status of the industry. However, the RDI's IGF projects not only focus on technical innovations, but also on other economically and socially relevant topics, including: Research for consumer protection , Sustainability and resource efficiency , Food quality assurance

Detailed information on all research areas can be found on the RDI website .