Project: Emballages innovants et revêtements comestibles pour garantir la pérennité post-récolte de la production méditerranéenne de fruits et légumes

Acronym DurInnPack
Duration 30/06/2024 - 30/06/2027
Project Topic 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.
Network PRIMA
Call Section 2 – Multi-topic 2023

Project partner

Number Name Role Country
175 University of Cordoba Coordinator Spain
176 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Estación Experimental del Zaidín Partner Spain
177 Centre de Recherche Technique et Scientifique en Analyses Physico-chimiques Partner Algeria
178 Grenoble-INP-University of Grenoble Alpes Partner France
179 University of Milano Partner Italy
180 Université Mohammed Premier Oujda Partner Morocco
181 Instituto Politécnico de Bragança Partner Portugal
182 Institute of Technological Studies of Ksar Hellal Partner Tunisia