Boosting research on organic food processing
Organic food processing is becoming more and more important within the organic food chain. However, in recent years only little research focussing on organic food processing has been carried out. Three new CORE Organic Plus projects will now contribute to closing this research gap. They all focus on ensuring the quality and safety of organic food along the processing chain. Two projects address processing and packaging technologies for fruit, the third project examines the effects of processing techniques for different fruits and vegetables.
Ecoberries will focus on organic berries and developing sustainable processing and packaging technologies to extend the shelf life and reduce waste. “Our project will improve processing technologies and identify optimal packaging solutions to increase functionality and nutritional value for organic products”, says Marie Alminger, food scientist and project coordinator from Chalmers Technical University in Sweden. The sustainability of new technologies will be evaluated.
Follow the project here: http://coreorganicplus.org/research-projects/ecoberries/
Berries will also be studied in the SusOrganic project. The project manager, Barbara Sturm from Kassel University, formulates the aim: “We want to help the organic sector to produce more sustainably, and to increase competitiveness, and we will do that by developing affordable new technologies which meet the needs of organic consumers”. In the project quality standards for dried and cooled/frozen fruits will be formulated as well as processing guidelines for increased product quality, increased process efficiency, reduction in use of resources and reduction of food waste.
More information can be found here: http://coreorganicplus.org/research-projects/susorganic/
The third project FavorDeNonDe will investigate the effects of processing techniques by looking at changes in taste as well as changes in the content of desirable (antioxidants, taste enhancers) and undesirable compounds (patulin, allergens) with different techniques. The focus will be on apple juice , strawberry jam, dried tomatoes and sweet pepper.
Link to further information: http://coreorganicplus.org/research-projects/favor-denonde/
News from the projects will be published annually at least.
The publications from the projects will be available in Organic Eprints: http://orgprints.org/view/projects/COREplus.html