Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Long-term Europe-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership for Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Titre : MEDISMART : Mediterranean Citrus : innovative soft processing solutions for SMART (Sustainable, Mediterranean, Agronomically evolved, nutRitionally enriched, Traditional) products

Pays/Région : Egypt ; Portugal ; Spain ; Italy ; Turkey

Date : Start date 2020-10-01 // End date 2023-09-30

Identifiant : 270-MEDISMART
Type de projet : Development and innovation oriented (research) project

Contexte
Agricultural residues management is considered to be a vital approach in order to accomplish resource conservation and to maintain the quality of the environment. Concept of green chemistry is extended worldwide, in the last few years environment-friendly techniques have emerged as an alternative to the traditional methods. Citrus is one of the most widely cultivated fruit crops and one of the main agro-food products in the Mediterranean area. Citrus peels, if treated as waste materials, can create environmental problems. This problem could be turned into an advantage, if potentially marketable by-products can be extracted and valorized in several added-value ingredients (e.g. pectin).

Objectif
Citrus pectin is an essentially linear polysaccharide, it is both polydisperse and polymolecular and its composition varies with the source and the conditions applied during isolation. As a natural food additive, it is used extensively in the food industry, valuable functional ingredient for food. The Mediterranean region is particularly susceptible to the detrimental impacts of water scarcity and drought. It has direct impacts on economic sectors that use and depend on water, i.e., agriculture, tourism, industry, energy and transport. One of the most important targets of the project to achieve the sustainability is the use of the hydrogels which prepared from citrus by produts as soil improver to increase the water-holding capacity and/or nutrient retention of sandy soils.

Specific objectives
* Use of eco-friendly substances as an alternative to any chemicals in agricultural practices ;
* Extraction and purification of some valuable compounds which can be used in agriculture, pharmaceutical, nutraceuticals, food and cosmetic industries ;
* Identification of innovative packaging materials ;
* Application of a hydrogel as soil improvers to increase the water-holding capacity and/or nutrient retention of sandy soils ;
* Identification of innovative process technologies strongly preserving the naturalness and properties of the products raising final quality in terms of nutrition and sensory aspects : HPP, US

Coordinateur : National Research Centre (NRC)
Partenaires : Catholic University of Portugal AMC Innova (part of AMC Group) Experimental Station for the Food Preservation Industry (SSICA) Central Research Institute of Food and Feed Control Tarım A.Ş. Bursa Hayvancılık Tarım San. ve Tic. A.Ş

Financement principal : Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) (H2020)
Budget : 1 112 512 EUR

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