Innovative Packaging and edible coatings to guarantee post-harvest Durability of Mediterranean fruits and vegetables production – DurInnPack

The valorisation of vegetal, dairy and crustacean residues is proposed through their transformation into polymeric matrices and fillers/reinforcements. Essential oils with biocidal and/or repellent activities will be used as antimicrobial agents, but also strains of probiotic lactic acid bacteria will be tested as a novel antimicrobial solution. The chemical functionalization (catalysed mechanochemistry technology) and the development of Pickering emulsions will allow obtaining novel mixtures in the form of edible coatings with antimicrobial properties and greater mechanical and environmental resistance during storage and transport of the impregnated vegetables (tomato, pepper). A new methodology will be tested based on the development of sprays that could be used throughout the entire food chain (producer, supplier, seller, consumer). Likewise, as an innovative solution, the early application of these coatings on vegetables during their cultivation will be tested, since the flexibility of the biopolymers used should allow their growth and maturation in situ. In this way, the solution proposed by DurInnPack would not only avoid post-harvest food waste but would also improve crop yields by protecting them against biotic (insects or rottenness) and abiotic (extreme temperatures, solar radiation) agents. Analysis of the cumulative energy demand (CED) during the food chain will provide useful information for the estimation of the global environmental impact (carried out also by means of the LCA approach) depending on the food packaging used. All the results obtained along the project will be strategically and properly disseminated to the public of the scientific, social and business fields. This, together with various demonstration activities for local producers and small suppliers, and an impetus to encourage the creation of start-ups and technology-based companies mainly by female staff, will give a vision of transferability and global mentoring to the project.