Sanifruit organizes this informative event every two years to be able to offer the sector the best post-harvest solutions to extend shelf life of fruits respecting the environment and people.
Sanifruit is a biotechnology company, dedicated for more than 35 years to the formulation of chem-free and organic post-harvest solutions for fruits and vegetables. The company aims to achieve a sustainable and chem-free sector to protect people's health and the environment.
Aligned with its mission, Sanifruit has organized what has been the third edition of its traditional informative event focused on chem-free post-harvest. The main novelty was that this time the company wanted the event to be focused on the fruit and vegetable sector in general and not only on citrus fruit as it had been done on previous occasions. Thus Sanifruit shows the diversification of its range of solutions, in which the company has experience not only in citrus but also in stone fruit, pome fruit, melon, banana, avocado and pepper. The day was also broadcasted in streaming, in English and Spanish, thus attending to the needs of its customers internationally.
The event, which was a success, managed to bring together the different actors involved not only in the post-harvest sector but also representatives of the decision-making actors of the entire supply chain.
The first four presentations were focused on the main problems of postharvest and their possible natural solutions: fungi, resistance, consequences for people's health and edible coatings. Thus, Elena Costa of IRTA, gave a masterful presentation on how to identify the different fungi that affect citrus fruits, stone fruit and pome fruit. Mª José Fabra, researcher at IATA-CSIC, then reported on the different existing natural solutions in the form of edible natural coatings and her research on alternative solutions to phytosanitary products to extend the post-harvest life of fruits and vegetables.
After a lively coffee break and networking, Nicolás Olea Doctor and Professor at Granada University, was waiting for us to warn us of the serious consequences that toxic fungicides have on people's health, and the importance of the authorities taking into account when legislating not only the limits of residues per active material individually, if not the real consequences of the cocktail of chemicals together on human health.
Antonieta de Cal researcher at INIA-CSIC, on the other hand, closed the cycle of presentations talking about resistance to phytosanitary products and how to try to avoid them through the application of different post-harvest solutions.
After these excellent presentations with high-level professionals, Sanifruit managed to bring together in a round table the different key actors of the supply chain of the sector, in a very interesting debate on sustainable agriculture. Moderated by Raquel Fuertes, journalist and manager of the newspaper Valencia Fruits, Stephan Rötzer, CEO of Sanlucar; Javier Arizmendi, COO of Zerya; Jaume Vercher, Field Director of the Valencian citrus company Frutas Tono; Julián Tío, Head of the Information Cabinet of the AVACU Consumer Association; and David Torres, General Director of Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture of the GVA.
The debate revolved around what everyone considered sustainable agriculture, how companies in the sector are committed and carry out actions in favor of that sustainability, the benefits of sustainable agriculture for producers, retailers and consumers, as well as the benefits of a chem-free post-harvest. It was also discussed how administrations and consumer associations could collaborate to ensure that the consumer is much more informed on health issues and sustainable agriculture, being able to make conscious decisions, and demanding products that do not affect their health in a negative way.
The day was closed by Javier Biel, CEO of Sanifruit and Erica Biel, Director of Innovation and Quality who spoke about the importance of innovation from the point of view of sustainability in Sanifruit and how the company can provide natural post-harvest solutions to citrus fruit, stone fruit, melon, banana, avocado and pepper. In addition, the company advanced that they could soon offer the sector many more solutions for other crops thanks to their intense work in continuous innovation.
For more information:
Sanifruit
Email: sanifruit@sanifruit.com
www.sanifruit.com