Using surplus fruit and vegetables to produce a juice - a virtuous example of food waste recovery in the project S.K.I.P.E.

Worldwide, 1.3 billion tons of food are currently wasted and this represents a major problem for the planet, as it produces negative impacts from a social, economic and environmental point of view. We can distinguish two types of issues: food losses and food waste. Food losses are determined upstream of the agri food chain, especially in the sowing, harvesting, storage and, generally, in the first stage of the agrifood chain. Food waste are the losses that occur in the second stage of the supply chain, related to the industrial transformation, distribution and final consumption. The causes of this waste are to be found at all levels of the food supply chain, in particular, three macro areas have been identified where the most waste occurs: a) production stage, b) distribution stage, and c) consumption stage. The present work aims at carrying out experimental trials aimed at defining a line for processing surplus fruits and vegetables (edible food that cannot be sold for aesthetic or dimensional defects, and therefore destined to be wasted) into juices, in order to produce a more stable food with a longer shelf life, and to reduce the impact of food waste. The activity was developed using apples, fennel, rocket leaves and carrots. Fruit and vegetable products were, firstly, characterized for the following parameters: size, firmness (N), sugar content (°Brix), external and internal color according to the CIELab system, dry matter (%), juice content (%), pH, titratable acidity of juice (% citric acid). All products were used for the juice production and two different blends were chosen (based on some preliminary trials, not reported in this paper), packed in glass jars and pasteurized with different time/temperature combinations. Physical and chemical evaluation was carried out for the two blends, and the kinetic model of destruction was calculated for vitamin C. Results were used to design a processing line for the production of juice and for the cost estimation of the line.