Implementation of PEF Treatment at Real-Scale Tomatoes Processing Considering LCA Methodology as an Innovation Strategy in the Agri-Food Sector

Abstract

In Europe, science and innovation are boosting the agri-food sector and, in parallel, are helping to decrease greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and European dependency on non-renewable resources. Currently, it is well-known that this sector contributes to the consumption of energy and material resources, causing significant environmental impacts that require a complex and comprehensive environmental evaluation in order to manage them effectively. This becomes even more complicated when new technologies are reaching the level of technological maturity needed to be installed in the production lines. To address this scientific challenge, the life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used in this paper to evaluate the potential of pulsed electric fields (PEF) technology at an industrial scale to facilitate the steam peeling of tomato fruits. Considering the thermo-physical peeling stage, the LCA has shown that PEF technology is environmentally friendly, because when PEF technology is applied, all the considered environmental indicators improve between 17% and 20%.

Fit between Organizational Culture and Innovation Strategy: Implications for Innovation Performance

“…Innovation strategy that outlines how organizations intend to achieve their innovative goals is critical for organizations to attain competitive advantage [1]. However, organizations have increasingly realized that it is easier to formulate innovation strategy than how to implement it.…”

Innovative Technologies for Extraction and Microencapsulation of Bioactives from Plant-Based Food Waste and Their Applications in Functional Food Development

“…It promotes a substantial increase in permeation across the cell membrane, facilitating the release of intracellular compounds. Therefore, it is known to increase the extraction yield and rates at reduced energy consumption and low environmental impact [ 204 , 205 ]. Furthermore, PEF-E is useful for the effective extraction of heat-sensitive compounds from the sample matrix [ 206 ].…”

Mapping the EU tomato supply chain from farm to fork for greenhouse gas emission mitigation strategies

“…By considering the loss rate at the postharvest handling and storage stage and the import and export of fresh tomatoes, we determined the amount of fresh tomatoes available for processing and consumption. The amount of fresh tomatoes used for processing was determined by the production of tomato products (Eurostat, 2016) and the loss rate at the processing stage (Arnal et al., 2018). For fresh tomatoes, they directly entered the distribution stage.…”

“…It should be noted that differences of the amount of import or export remain when considering who is reporter. Due to lack of data, the loss and waste rate at each stage was assumed to be the same in all EU‐28 member countries (Table S3 in the Supporting Information), which was referring to literature research (Arnal et al., 2018; Kemna & Holsteijn, 2017; Porter et al., 2018).…”

“…For example, the application of pulsed electric fields (PEF) as a tool could improve the energy efficiency and yield efficiency of tomato processing (Arnal et al., 2018), because it enhances the mass transport through cell walls and requires less energy when pressing tomatoes. The GHG emissions could be reduced by 18% when the PEF technology is applied (Arnal et al., 2018). Thus, a reduction potential of 5%, 10%, and 20% was assumed. Food‐waste reduction .…”