Project overview                                                                                         

Innovative Mild Processing Tailored to Ensure Sustainable and High Quality Organic Fruit Products

The global demand for organic processed fruit characterized by high quality, long shelf-life and improved nutritional value is growing due to an increasing interest in a healthier and more environmentally friendly food production. Consumers expect a superior quality compared to conventionally processed foods, such as less pesticide and additives residues, less nutritional/qualitative reduction due to processing operations and a low environmental impact. Nevertheless, the research on the optimization of processing for organic fruit products is still scarce. The main hypothesis of the project is that raw material characteristics, processing and storage conditions for organic fruit products have to be strictly designed to the specificity of each kind of commodity, through the application/implementation of tailored mild processing technologies, with a consumer-driven approach.

To answer to this need, the project aims to improve the competitiveness of the organic sector, increasing the level of quality, sustainability and consumer confidence of organic fruit (apple, citrus and berries) products and valorising by-products and side streams. The activity will follow a "processing-guided" strategy, aimed to answer to stakeholders needs in order to have an important impact on the EU organic sector. A fundamental output of the project will be the development of a Code of Practice for European organic fruit processing industries. An active engagement with multi-actors and a dissemination plan will ensure that the outputs of the project will be comprehensive and accessible, meeting the needs of the end-users.

These finding will be used for the creation of a virtuous production system able to maximise product quality, minimising waste and environmental impact, enhancing consumer confidence on organic processed fruit products.