Project description DEENESFRITPL Revolutionising the fight against food waste In the EU, a staggering 5 % of fresh fruits and vegetables (FF&V) traded annually never make it to supermarket shelves, resulting in a wastage of 3.9 million tonnes of food and a loss of thousands of millions of euros. Spoilage caused by microorganisms and the release of ethylene gas contributes to this alarming problem. To address this, the EU-funded FRESHTRAY project will introduce a game-changing solution called FreshTray, developed by SAECO, a renowned cardboard packaging manufacturer. This cost effective innovation extends the shelf life of FF&V by an impressive 40 % through a patented multi-active coating applied to the inner surface of the packaging. With successful trials on tomatoes and peppers, FreshTray promises efficacy, versatility, and benefits that far surpass its competitors. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective In the EU28, 5% of the fresh fruits and vegetables (FF&V) yearly traded never make it to the supermarket shelves due to spoilage. This means a waste of 3.9 Mt of food and the loss of 8,970 M€. FF&V spoilage is caused by the contamination of micro-organisms activity (bacteria and fungi) and the F&V’s release of ethylene gas. We have developed FreshTray a cost-effective solution to significantly diminish FF&V discards in Europe. FreshTray is a multi-active cardboard packaging to extend the shelf-life of fresh FF&V by +40%. It consists on the application of a patented multi-active coating – made of natural substances – over the inner surface of the cardboard. This coating has proved antimicrobial, antioxidant and ethylene scavenger functions over the F&V contained in the packaging. We have successfully tested the solution in tomato and pepper. Besides its effectiveness and the price, there are two key additional advantages of our solution against our competitors: (i) easy implementation by users and (ii) versatility of the solution that can be adapted to any FF&V company need. F&V companies will be willing to adopt our solution, since it (i) will provide them more flexibility and bargaining power, (ii) will increase their competitiveness against regular products, (iii) will increase their benefits and (iv) will loss on average 50% less of F&V along the supply chain.In our company SAECO – cardboard packaging manufacturers since 1974 – we enjoy a privilege location close to more than 600 target users (some of them are current customers), since we are based in the south-east of Spain, a region known as the “European’s orchard”. FreshTray will be first launched in Spain and in further stages of commercialization we will reach other EU28 countries. This project will give us the possibility to add value to our products and to open new markets. We will upgrade from selling cardboard, to market advanced multi-active packaging solutions to F&V industries. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturefruit growingengineering and technologynanotechnologyengineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and filmsagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturevegetable growingnatural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaliphatic compounds Programme(s) H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs Main Programme H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies Topic(s) EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020 - SME instrument Call for proposal H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020 See other projects for this call Sub call H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-2 Funding Scheme SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2 Coordinator SOCIEDAD ANONIMA ESPANOLA DE CARTON ONDULADO Net EU contribution € 587 125,00 Address AVENIDA DE SAECO POLIGONO INDUSTRIAL FENAZAR 30509 MOLINA DE SEGURA Spain See on map SME The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed. Yes Region Sur Región de Murcia Murcia Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 838 750,00
