A study carried out by the European Council in 2010 established that every year about 179 kg of food per person (about 90 million tons) are wasted in Europe. New strategies for research, innovation and player awareness are required along the entire food chain to fight chain losses and contribute to food chain sustainability. Food waste can be attributed to all and every chain stakeholder, according to the following breakdown: 42% in the households, 39% producers, 5% retailers and 14% catering. Considering that food is wasted throughout the whole supply chain there must be a coordinated strategy aimed at improving the efficiency, sector by sector, to the final consumer. By promoting an effective collaboration between enterprises - Whirlpool, Bolt di Stefano Palmese (Pomigliano D'Arco -NA), F.lli Naddeo srl (Scafati - SA), Rago - Az. Agricola "I Pini" di Rago Rosario (Battipaglia -SA) , - and research organizations - CNR- ISPA, CNR-ISA; CNR-ICTP and CREA-ZA -, activities scheduled meet the strategic objective to develop innovative technology solutions for sustainable food processing and preservation. To face domestic losses, the phase where food is to a significant extent wasted, the knowledge of perishability of food matrices when associated to the home environment and to the thermal history of products, can provide important information on the quality and edibility of the food. This would be very useful for home food managing, by balancing the erroneous association between appearance and intrinsic quality, which heavily influences consumer's choice. Changes in appearance and quality are associated with chemical and physical mutations due to incorrect storage conditions and/or microbiological factors. The computational modeling allows to describe and predict the evolution of food during storage as a function of environmental conditions. All information about food, its history and its edibility, can help the home management of refrigerated foods. Therefore, the development of new solutions capable of supporting the consumer in the management of the storage of foodstuffs will assist consumers to reduce/minimize waste related to the home management of food. Innovative solutions at production, postharvest and processing stages may also have a pivotal role in food preservation and food chain sustainability. The development of environmentally friendly packaging film containing antimicrobial "food grade" agents, as well as the application of sustainable technologies for the dehydration of food products by using biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, can well contribute in preventing food spoilage and prolonging product shelf-life. Anyway, also the packaging systems contribute to produce waste. Therefore, research goes with no little difficulty toward "green label" systems of preservation which are of vegetable origin and activated by natural substances. In the perspective of really sustainable supply chain, it would be very desirable to improve the efficiency of processes. Particularly, energy and water saving is essential for achieving the targets of greenhouse gas emissions reduction. However, this option has to face the real availability of effective and environmentally friendly technologies for energy intakes reduction. An integrated drying process of fresh-cut vegetables, assisted by ultrasonic power and associated with energy recovery devices, is being developed in the project. In the transformation of vegetable foods, fresh-cut vegetables are characterized by a considerable tendency to perish in relation to the risk of microbial spoilage. The ultrasonic-associated drying process would optimize existing technologies since ultrasounds fasten water removal from the produce before packaging and results feasible as an alternative or in combination with traditional methods. Furthermore, new solutions for the valorization and exploitation of wasted biomass of fresh-cut vegetables industry, through composting and recycling them into the production system, may represent the substrate for composting company through a simple so-called "on-farm" system. Finally, also at the production level, new strategies are applied for fertigation of soilless crops. Nutrient solution recycling improves the efficiency of water, greatly simplifying crop management and reducing environmental impact. The employment of new methods and technological solutions for the improvement of the sustainability in the national Agrifood chain will give an important contribution to meet the sustainability goals established at European Level.
Cluster AGRIFOOD Sustainability of the food chain (SOFIA) OR 5 - Innovative methods for sustainable management, processing and preservation of foods
Paola Lavermicocca;
2016
Abstract
A study carried out by the European Council in 2010 established that every year about 179 kg of food per person (about 90 million tons) are wasted in Europe. New strategies for research, innovation and player awareness are required along the entire food chain to fight chain losses and contribute to food chain sustainability. Food waste can be attributed to all and every chain stakeholder, according to the following breakdown: 42% in the households, 39% producers, 5% retailers and 14% catering. Considering that food is wasted throughout the whole supply chain there must be a coordinated strategy aimed at improving the efficiency, sector by sector, to the final consumer. By promoting an effective collaboration between enterprises - Whirlpool, Bolt di Stefano Palmese (Pomigliano D'Arco -NA), F.lli Naddeo srl (Scafati - SA), Rago - Az. Agricola "I Pini" di Rago Rosario (Battipaglia -SA) , - and research organizations - CNR- ISPA, CNR-ISA; CNR-ICTP and CREA-ZA -, activities scheduled meet the strategic objective to develop innovative technology solutions for sustainable food processing and preservation. To face domestic losses, the phase where food is to a significant extent wasted, the knowledge of perishability of food matrices when associated to the home environment and to the thermal history of products, can provide important information on the quality and edibility of the food. This would be very useful for home food managing, by balancing the erroneous association between appearance and intrinsic quality, which heavily influences consumer's choice. Changes in appearance and quality are associated with chemical and physical mutations due to incorrect storage conditions and/or microbiological factors. The computational modeling allows to describe and predict the evolution of food during storage as a function of environmental conditions. All information about food, its history and its edibility, can help the home management of refrigerated foods. Therefore, the development of new solutions capable of supporting the consumer in the management of the storage of foodstuffs will assist consumers to reduce/minimize waste related to the home management of food. Innovative solutions at production, postharvest and processing stages may also have a pivotal role in food preservation and food chain sustainability. The development of environmentally friendly packaging film containing antimicrobial "food grade" agents, as well as the application of sustainable technologies for the dehydration of food products by using biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, can well contribute in preventing food spoilage and prolonging product shelf-life. Anyway, also the packaging systems contribute to produce waste. Therefore, research goes with no little difficulty toward "green label" systems of preservation which are of vegetable origin and activated by natural substances. In the perspective of really sustainable supply chain, it would be very desirable to improve the efficiency of processes. Particularly, energy and water saving is essential for achieving the targets of greenhouse gas emissions reduction. However, this option has to face the real availability of effective and environmentally friendly technologies for energy intakes reduction. An integrated drying process of fresh-cut vegetables, assisted by ultrasonic power and associated with energy recovery devices, is being developed in the project. In the transformation of vegetable foods, fresh-cut vegetables are characterized by a considerable tendency to perish in relation to the risk of microbial spoilage. The ultrasonic-associated drying process would optimize existing technologies since ultrasounds fasten water removal from the produce before packaging and results feasible as an alternative or in combination with traditional methods. Furthermore, new solutions for the valorization and exploitation of wasted biomass of fresh-cut vegetables industry, through composting and recycling them into the production system, may represent the substrate for composting company through a simple so-called "on-farm" system. Finally, also at the production level, new strategies are applied for fertigation of soilless crops. Nutrient solution recycling improves the efficiency of water, greatly simplifying crop management and reducing environmental impact. The employment of new methods and technological solutions for the improvement of the sustainability in the national Agrifood chain will give an important contribution to meet the sustainability goals established at European Level.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
