One of the main challenges in traditional food production is to improve competitiveness by identifying innovations which comply with EU safety policies and regulations and guarantee the safety of traditional food products (TFPs), while at the same time meet general consumer demands and specific consumers expectations and attitudes to innovation in TFPs. This is not an easy task. Consumer expectations are sometimes contradictory. For instance, traditional food consumers demand products, which are completely safe with respect to microbiological hazards but are also minimally processed, free or low in preservative content and of high nutritional and sensory value. This is a particularly challenging task for SMEs, which constitute the majority of European traditional food producers and processors. Research into safety innovations has mainly focused on the needs of large-scale production and processing systems, and SMEs often lack the facilities or capital to establish facilities for microbiological or toxicological safety assurance systems. In addition, recent studies have indicated that many sectors of the traditional food industries have done little to identify and introduce innovations in primary production or processing that can increase nutritionally desirable compounds (e.g. antioxidants, vitamins) and reduce nutritionally undesirable compounds (e.g. salt, sugar, pesticides, saturated fatty acids), while maintaining or improving their sensory qualities. A central goal of the EU policy is therefore to increase the competitiveness of the traditional food sector via improvements in food safety and quality characteristics that can be translated into consumer demand. The TRUEFOOD project focuses on supporting this European strategy.