The success of SHEALTHY will result in validated consumer-accepted non-thermal technologies combined to enhance food safety and nutritional quality, prevent foodborne illness outbreaks and reduce food waste caused by early spoilage.

The SHEALTHY pioneering system will have high replicability potential, reproducible beyond the project boundaries, improving the competitiveness of micro & SMEs in the European agri-food sector as a whole.

  • Alternative washing and sanitisation solutions to chemical sanitizers.

  • New packaging technologies to preserve product quality.

  • Novel stabilization solution to substitute the thermal pasteurization.

  • Collaborative business models and new logistic systems.

KEY IMPACTS:

  • The shelf life of minimally processed F&V products increased from 30% to 50%.

  • The natural value increased of 20-30% for MP F&V & of 70-130% for juices/smoothies.

  • The food loss reduced of 40%.

  • 30% of increase of market orientation of F&V SME’s.

The following results were achieved at M36:

  • Different non-thermal technologies have been developed and implemented with the purpose of improving or maintaining the safety and quality of minimally processed F&V and F&V based juices and smoothies. More than 50 combinations (technology-product) have been considered between both business cases: sanitation and preservation (Task 1.1) and stabilisation (Task 1.2). The selection of the technology-product combination has been made based on their industrial application – taking into account the requirements of the third parties (end-users) – and the effectiveness of the technology when applied on each F&V product.

    New active compounds (1 antimicrobial and 2 antioxidant compounds) has been selected based on in vitro efficacy (antimicrobial or antioxidant activity), literature review and relevance for industrial application.

    The DSS has been implemented to guide the operators in handling technologies to improve food stabilization process. The DSS has been validated (Task 1.3) to guide the combination of non-thermal technologies to improve the shelf life of SHEALTHY products, which in turn will help technology providers for the mapping guidelines of SMEs.

  • Technology has been chosen and selected pilot process for extraction and purification have been defined for scale up.

  • Novel BMs have been designed and defined to support and improve innovation processes within SMEs as well as to smoothen the technology adoption in the SMEs involved in the pilot trials.

  • Efficient logistics systems have been developed by creating collaborative networks and clusters that facilitate the connection of value chain actors securing the traceability of the whole food chain and unlocking new business opportunities in local and regional food systems. A real-time monitoring device has been developed to monitor variables related to freshness ripening (temperature, humidity, ethylene). A low cost, consumer-oriented indicators for identification of the counterfeited fruit juices and smoothies has been developed. A freshness indicating ink based on ammonium molybdate and palladium sulphate has been developed.

  • Some combinations of the mild technologies have been down-scaled at pilot level. Specifically, in Spain the combination of washing and preservation technologies have been designed and carried out with Ékolo and El Huertico products. The combination of technologies to apply in Soto del Ebro pears has been defined. For pilot trials in Italy, HPP has been tested in smoothies with DODACO. UNINA has been working on the set up of the washing and preservation technologies for the pilot trials. The combination of washing and preservation technologies have been designed and carried out with COMEX. The combination of technologies to apply in AGRISOD cherry tomatos has been defined. For pilot trials in Serbia the combination of HPP and US has been carried out for the production of prototype products of CP. In Germany, ATB has been working on the set up of the extraction, pasteurisation and washing technologies for the pilot scale. ITENE has carried out the scale-up of the production of active multilayer films. For the traceability and logistic, ITENE has identified interests and define methodologies for the companies. BBEPP has performed two pilot runs to assess/validate the extraction of bioactive compound from two different co-products.

  • The analytical methodologies and shelf-life evaluation protocol have been defined. A report on the legislative framework according to food law applicable to the resulting prototypes has been prepared. The impact of bioactive coatings on the sensory attributes of minimally processed pears has been assessed.

  • An integrated Life Cycle Thinking approach has been used, in order to evaluate and optimize different effects (such as environmental, economic and social) of the project across the full supply value chain. For this study environmental and socioeconomic indicators and methodologies (LCA, LCC, S-LCA) and eco-efficiency analysis have been used. During this period the partners involved in this task have been focused on the preparation, development and optimization of the template according to the need of the SHEALTHY project. In addition, during this period, the partners have gathered the needed information from the key companies which are involved in the pilot trials, as well as from the technological developers. Thanks to the information provided preliminary results for the definition of the social situation of the companies have been completed. In addition, LCA calculations have been obtained, in order to define the baseline situation of processes before the technology’s implementation.

  • To disseminate the project results 3 new policy briefs have been distributed; 14 scientific publications have been published; 15 events (conferences and fairs) have been attended; 1 joint scientific event has been held; 2 events (1 workshop and 1 conference) organised within the EU Green Week 2021; 4 new synergies have been established with other projects. To communicate the project activities and results 5 newsletters have been issued and more than new 1500 new contacts were included in the project database; 233 posts have been uploaded to the project official social media channels gaining more than 60.000 impressions (Twitter and LinkedIn); 1 paid social media campaign has been launched reaching more than 500.000 people; relevant content (news, events, public deliverables, documents, etc) have been circulated on the project website generating almost 15.000-page views; 10 new infographics on mild technologies published; 1 new gadget type distributed (lunchbox); 3 popularised publications have been launched. To properly manage the IPR generated in SHEALTHY, 1 IP due diligence tool has been established. Among key activities for the exploitation of the project results, 17 master thesis have been elaborated and published on the project topics; 1 webinar has been held to replicate the project results in other environment in the format of Food processing format; sessions for transfer of knowledge implemented to ensure the understanding, acceptance and future uptake of the results.