Pulsed electric field preservation (PEF-P) of liquid food products (fruit juices or smoothies), high pressure thermal sterilization (HPTS) for ready-to-eat-meals, and low shear extrusion for cold food products (mainly ice cream) will be part of the work which runs until 2018.
The i³-food project will provide validated sensors or sensor type measurements for continuous process control and a fully developed and evaluated HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points) for each technology.
Reasons for limited implementation of the technologies vary from low acceptance or rejection by consumers to non-open market access or lack of knowledge and information among food producers on how to integrate them.
Elea Vertriebs- und vermarktungsgesellschaft (ELEA) will co-ordinate the project which aims to remove the technical and process conditioned bottlenecks.
Participants include Deutsche Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik (DIL), Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research (FBR), Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA), Fraunhofer-Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Erdbär (ERDB), Foodcase International (FOD), Entex Rust & Mitschke (Entex), Hoogesteger (Hoogesteger) and Dmk Eis (DMK).
The project is supported by the European Commission under the H2020 Framework Program for Research and Technological Development with a total cost of €2.3m.