ATO-DLO / Wageningen Food & Biobased Research

ATO-DLO (Agrotechnologisch Onderzoek — Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek) was a Dutch applied research institute based in Wageningen, specialised in food process technology, preservation, packaging, and the non-food application of agricultural raw materials. Founded in 1988 through the merger of two predecessor institutes, ATO-DLO operated as the technology- and industry-oriented arm of the Dutch agricultural research system until it was absorbed into the broader Wageningen University & Research (WUR) structure. It is now known as Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR), one of nine research institutes within Wageningen Research, the applied research division of WUR.

Institutional context: the OVO system and DLO

To understand ATO-DLO’s role, it must be placed within the broader structure of the Dutch agricultural knowledge system. From the post-war period onward, the Netherlands organised its agricultural knowledge infrastructure around the so-called OVO-drieluik — a three-pillar system of:

• Onderzoek (Research) — coordinated by the Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek (DLO)
• Voorlichting (Extension) — agricultural advisory and outreach services
• Onderwijs (Education) — the Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen (later Wageningen University)

This integrated system, in which research findings were systematically translated into practice through extension services and embedded in educational programmes, is widely credited with making the Netherlands internationally exceptional in agricultural and food innovation productivity relative to its land area and population.

DLO — the Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek — was the overarching organisation of applied agricultural research institutes operating under the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture. Its institutes covered a broad spectrum from primary crop and soil science to veterinary research, economics, and food technology.

History of ATO-DLO

Predecessor institutes

ATO-DLO was formed in 1988 through the merger of two Wageningen-based research institutes:

• IBVL — Instituut voor Bewaring en Verwerking van Landbouwprodukten (Institute for Storage and Processing of Agricultural Products): focused on postharvest quality, storage conditions, and primary processing of agricultural produce
• Sprenger Instituut: specialised in postharvest technology, cooling, controlled atmosphere storage, and quality preservation of horticultural products

The merger created a single institute with broader scope, covering the full chain from harvest and storage through processing, packaging, and product development.

Role and focus

Within DLO, ATO occupied a distinctive position: it was the most technology- and industry-oriented institute in the network. Where other DLO institutes concentrated on primary agriculture, soil science, plant breeding, or economics, ATO worked closest to industrial food production and processing.

Principal research domains included:

• Food process technology (voedselproceskunde)
• Preservation and shelf-life extension, including mild and non-thermal methods
• Aseptic and minimal processing
• Packaging science and modified atmosphere technology
• Membrane technology and separation processes
• Rheology and physical chemistry of food systems
• Protein functionality and ingredient science
• Encapsulation technologies
• Biobased and non-food applications of agricultural crops
• Process engineering, scale-up, and industrial validation

A distinctive feature of ATO-DLO was the Afdeling Systeemkunde (Systems Science department), which condensed practical and scientific knowledge — both internal to the institute and drawn from external sources — into computer-oriented tools and models. This department took a more general theoretical approach to describing and predicting quality in agricultural products, bridging physical chemistry and process engineering with computational methods.

Research on emerging technologies

During the 1990s and early 2000s, ATO-DLO was at the centre of applied research on several food technologies that subsequently became commercially important:

• High pressure processing (HPP) — early applied research on pascalisation as a non-thermal preservation method
• Pulsed electric field (PEF) — investigation of electroporation-based pasteurisation for liquid foods
• Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) — packaging science and gas composition optimisation
• Membrane filtration — applied to dairy, juice, and ingredient concentration
• Aseptic processing — combining thermal treatment with sterile filling for extended shelf life without refrigeration

Much of the conceptual groundwork for the Dutch food technology sector’s subsequent commercial development in these areas was laid at ATO-DLO.

Integration into Wageningen University & Research

In 1998, DLO and the Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen formally merged to form Wageningen University & Research (WUR), consolidating the university and applied research functions under a single institutional umbrella. In 1999, DLO was reorganised as a foundation (Stichting DLO), with the following institutes operating under it:

By 2014, Wageningen Research had been reorganised into nine institutes under the WUR umbrella:

In 2014, approximately 50% of the DLO/Wageningen Research budget came directly from the Ministry of Agriculture; the remaining 50% was generated through contract research with industry and other public funders.

Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR)

The successor to ATO-DLO within the WUR structure, Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR), retains the institute’s core food technology mandate while substantially broadening its scope. Current research themes include:

• Food process technology and preservation
• Alternative proteins and protein transition
• Fermentation technology
• Sustainable and bio-based packaging
• Biobased materials and industrial biotechnology
• Biomass pre-treatment and biorefinery
• Circular food systems and waste valorisation
• Digitalisation of food chains
• Food safety and quality assurance

WFBR is part of Wageningen University & Research (wur.nl) and operates on the Wageningen campus.

Influence on the Dutch food technology sector

ATO-DLO’s influence extended well beyond its own published research. Its technical culture — staffed by process technologists, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, and food scientists working close to industrial application — generated a network of practitioners who subsequently carried this expertise into industry, consultancy, and entrepreneurship.

Companies and institutes with direct or indirect personnel connections to the ATO-DLO ecosystem include Unilever, FrieslandCampina, GEA, NIZO Food Research, TNO Voeding, as well as numerous food technology SMEs, machinery manufacturers, and ingredient suppliers in the Dutch food industry. Spin-offs and ventures with founding roots at ATO-DLO include TOP b.v. and BOX N.V. (Blue Ocean Xlerator), co-founded by Bert Tournois and Herman Feil, both formerly at ATO-DLO.

A particular cultural characteristic of ATO-DLO was its emphasis on pilot plant infrastructure, hygienic design, process scale-up, and the integration of microbiology with process engineering — competencies that underpinned the Netherlands’ internationally recognised strength in food process engineering and industrial validation.

Broader context and sector perspectives

The dissolution of ATO-DLO as an independent entity and its integration into the broader WUR structure coincided with wider shifts in the organisation of Dutch public research. From the sector, two distinct perspectives on this transition are heard:

On the one hand, the WUR structure provides ATO-DLO’s successor with greater institutional resources, stronger links to fundamental science, and a broader research agenda that reflects evolving priorities in sustainability, circularity, and the protein transition.

On the other hand, observers from the food process engineering community note a perceived shift since the early 2000s: from deep specialisation in process technology and long-term technical development toward broader, subsidy-driven consortium programmes and sustainability-framing. This critique is not unique to WUR; it reflects a pattern seen across West-European public research institutes as funding structures shifted toward thematic programmes and societal challenge framing. The depth of specialised food engineering expertise that characterised ATO-DLO at its peak is viewed by some practitioners as difficult to fully replicate within the current institutional model.