SUSCLEAN · Sustainable Cleaning and Disinfection in Fresh-Cut Food Industries

SUSCLEAN will contribute to the development and implementation of a new generation of environment-friendly equipment sanitation and food product decontamination technologies ensuring food safety. Susclean is focused on minimally-processed vegetables (MPV) i.e. vegetables physically altered from their original form by slicing and cutting but remaining in a fresh state. We will develop knowledge, methods and tools aimed to; a) design new decontamination approaches for MPV and sanitation strategies for their processing equipment along the supply chain; b) propose guidance and recommendations to renew the best available processing techniques (BAT); c) consider the impact of sanitation and decontamination strategies in line with the Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC) 2008/1/CE, and d) improve the hygienic design of equipment for the fresh-cut product industry.The hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) method will be carried out from post-harvest to processing, taking into account shelf-life after packaging. For each critical point considered, we will study the microbial colonisation patterns, improve the equipment geometry and surface features, and propose innovative and/or optimised current sanitation and decontamination strategies. This will lead to holistic cleaning and disinfecting strategies combining the design of alternative equipment geometries and surfaces (preventive), proposals for innovative cleaning techniques (curative) and application of alternative disinfecting agents (remediation).These achievements will lead to reduction of the use of water and chemicals (chlorine) up to 20-50%, whilst ensuring food safety, sustainable practices and preserving fresh-cut food European quality and competitiveness. A well-balanced partnership has been built with research institutes and industries (SMEs and one end-user large corporation). 40% of the budget will be devoted to SMEs.