Application of multifunctional lactic acid bacteria in large-scale fermentation of spanish-style table olives

Project Information

OLEICAStarter

Grant agreement ID: 816561

DOI

10.3030/816561

Project closed

EC signature date 4 May 2018

Start date 1 June 2018

End date 30 September 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY AND SAFETY IN FOODS SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OLEICAStarter (Application of multifunctional lactic acid bacteria in large-scale fermentation of spanish-style table olives)

Reporting period: 2018-06-01 to 2018-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Table olives are important products of the olive tree (Olea europea L.) mainly produced in the Mediterranean Basin, specially Spain and Italy, Middle East, America and Australia. The fermented table olive varieties are common, with the Spanish-style table olives (SSTO) among the most consumed ones. Fermentation is beneficial for extending shelf life and to enhance nutritional and functional. Yet, SSTO producers need to improve the quality and safety of their products through a higher control and standardization of the fermentation process, which would also reduce the economic losses produced by fermentation failures.
Our overall objectives were: to further define the technical, commercial and financial feasibility of our solution to set the foundations of the Phase 2 and the commercial launch.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Technical feasibility. We selected BIOGES Starters for the production of the lyophilized started cultures, and estimated the cost of the quality control laboratory (~€250,000).

Commercial feasibility. Our target end-users will be SSTO producers. We have reached a deep understanding of the value chain and have established relationships for both the Phase 2 project and the post-project commercialization. We have designed our post-project commercialization in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, France, Turkey, Egypt and USA. We assessed the freedom to operate, and the regulatory framework, while keeping the industrial secret will be the core of our IPR strategy.

Financial feasibility. We have estimated OLEICAStarter’s price (from 23.82€ to 26.42€ per sealed bag, fermenting 10t of table olives), its production costs (13.59€) and the margins for TAFIQ in FOODS (from 38% to 43%). For the SME-Instrument Phase 2 project, we estimate a budget of €0.98M.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

OLEICAStarter will benefit: a) its end users by increasing their productivity (30-50%), reducing the fermentation spoilage OLEICAStarter will benefit: a) end users with 30-50% higher productivity, 5-10% reduction of fermentation spoilage, increased production standardization, and access to a new market niche of probiotic SSTO (30% higher prices), b) the environment and the society with 25 new posts, reduction of SSTO brine waste and new non-dairy probiotics into the market, and c) our company, with benefits of 6.3 million €, with a ROI of 4.08 after three years of commercialisation.
We will pursue the business model and will apply for the next calls of the SME-Instrument Phase 2 to ensure the funding requirements we have estimated.

Thermo-sealed bags containing 75gr of lyophilized OLEICAStarer culture