CORE Organic Plus: SusOrganic - Development of quality standards and optimised processing methods for organic produce

Organic food is expected to be of high quality and produced sustainably regardless of its degree of processing. EC legislation defines organically grown food as high quality food which has to be handled carefully throughout the whole life cycle, but explicit rules only exist for actual agricultural production and additives used in processed food. There is a lack of guidelines for food processing conditions for organic raw materials, along with the environmental footprint of the product. The Norwegian part of the project was focussing on two main activities: (1) how superchilling can be applied in the organic meat and fish production and (2) how low temperature drying will influence product quality and process efficiency. In the superchilling investigation the thermal properties were analysed by DSC method for organic apples, carrots, pork, salmon and salmon oil. The concept of superchilling was experimentally validated for salmon and pork products. Relative shelf life extensions of 14 days were documented for both products. The performed investigations demonstrated the potential of the superchilling concept for organic products. The needed technology is available at the market and can be implemented in organic production. A concept for a heat pump assisted drying process was evaluated by. The potential of using R744 (CO2) as working media in a heat pump drier was investigated for a drying process at 45°C, 60°C and 70°C. The trans-critical temperature glide of CO2 reduces the large temperature differences during re-heating of the drying air. The obtained Coefficients of Performance were between 3.4 and 4.3 resulting in specific energy consumption in the range of 0.24 to 0.27 kWh/kg of evaporated water for the different drying processes. The simulations confirm that heat pump assisted drying has the potential to reduce the energy demand by around 70% in general and shows the feasibility of applying heat pump drying also at drying conditions up to 70°C. An industrial convective drying chamber was equipped with modern sensor technology in order to evaluate the drying effects on product quality, such as shrinkage, deformation and colour changes. This enabled the implementation of an event controlled drying process in which the drying conditions are constantly adapted to optimum product quality. A demonstration test revealed significant reduction in drying times for organic fruits. The concept can be implemented in industrial system with only minor modifications to the drying control. For low temperature drying application the state diagrams at reduced drying temperatures were determined for organic fruit products. Experimental investigations on atmospheric freeze drying revealed that the product quality is improved compare to conventional drying temperatures. However, the freezing point depression prohibits actual freeze drying in industrial systems. The investigations focused on low temperature drying and the influence of temperature and humidity on the final quality and appearance of the product. The project is a part of a the international "SusOrganic" project financed by COREorganicplus: http://coreorganicplus.org/research-projects/susorganic/

Production of processed organic food is mostly carried out by small and medium enterprises who are currently facing a double challenge. Consumer awareness and legal standards require high quality as a precondition for successful marketing, but there is a lack of corresponding knowledge leading to significant quality losses and up to 40% raw material loss. Competition enforces strict control of related costs, however production is unnecessarily energy intensive. Drying, for example, is responsible for 15% of the overall energy demand in developed countries and efficiency in food drying can be as low as 10% with 35-45% being the average, revealing an important potential for improving both economic and environmental performance. Resource efficiency and product quality are often seen as antagonists. SusOrganic will, as an integrated research project, develop technical solutions, standard operation procedures and guidelines leading to increased product quality whilst reducing resource consumption with respect to raw materials and energy. Inclusion of leading food scientists, process-, mechanical and control engineers, agriculturalists and retailers from Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Europe will assure that all aspects relevant for the development of quality standards, process optimisation and resource efficiency are adequately addressed. Simultaneously the relevance of the project across the EU and beyond is ensured. SusOrganic will provide the organic sector with: (a) quality standards for dried and cooled/frozen products; (b) processing guidelines for increased product quality; (c) increased process efficiency and reduction of specific resource demands through improved processing, heat recovery and implementation of RES; (d) reduction of direct waste by utilising produce rejected by the fresh produce market; (e) sound database and Life Cycle and Life Cycle Cost Analyses (LCA and LCCA) for at least 4 products (drying and freezing) which will help benchmarking.