On the 16th and 17th of November 2020, the FOX joint segment meeting was successfully held online. In total, over 40 people from all 25 partners attended the online meeting to share and discuss the progress of the FOX project.

What is a joint segment meeting?

The joint segment meeting is complementary to the consortium meeting and takes place once a year. It is made to improve interaction between the different parts of the project so that each partner understands the work and needs of the others.

FOX updates

On day one, the partners of the three segments of the project presented the work conducted in the previous 6 months.

Segment 1: Research and technology

This part of the project focuses on the technological development for the four food circles, the four European regions in which the FOX technologies will be demonstrated and integrated into the food production chain. For this, the partners worked on:

  • Finishing the concept development of the down-scaled mobile fruit juice processing unit and start building some of the novel technologies (Multicut unit, Vacuum spiral filter press and Pulsed Electric Field) (Food Circle 1)
  • Testing the impact of the different pre-treatment technologies (PEF, US, and HHP) on mushrooms, dried by microwave (Food Circle 2)

Figure 1: Drying experiments on mushrooms

  • Characterizing fresh-cut summer fruits and vegetables quality by measuring sugar content, acidity, firmness, colour and testing sanitation protection treatments to improve foods shelf life (Food Circle 3)

Figure 2: Testing of apple firmness

  • Developing mild processing concepts to valorise different plant-based side streams like carrot pomace, greens peas proteins, tomato surpluses (Food Circle 4)

Figure 3: Sample of carrot pomace after juice production

Segment 2: Impact

This part of the project ensures that sustainable food circles will be developed with respect to economic and ecological viability and consumers’ demands.

For this, the partners continued working on imaging future scenarios for the food sector, the preparation of the business model, consumer engagement and the development of the FOXLINK application (launch early 2021).

Partners also provided results on:

  • Life Cycle Analysis of the FOX mobile apple juice system
  • Health impact assessment methodology of the FOX innovative food products
  • Combination of qualitative future scenarios and LCA in the food and agricultural sector
  • Socio-economic and environmental performance of small-scale and mild fruit and vegetable processing technologies

All these results were presented at the LCAFood2020 event.

Segment 3: Outreach

This part of the project aims at raising awareness by communicating on the project to the different stakeholders.

Partners of this segment recently organised an online workshop to exchange on “best practices for innovation” with the FOX European stakeholders. It was a great opportunity for many agricultural entrepreneurs to discuss about fruit & vegetable processing, business models and more.

On day two, different breakout sessions were organised in parallel to enable partners dealing with consumer engagement, communication, business models and sustainable assessments (segment 2 and 3) to discuss open issues with partners dealing with technical parts (segment 1).

This fruitful interaction brought important elements particularly for the FOXLINK developers but also to draft an adequate business model within the four regions.

The next steps

The partners also outlined their plans for the upcoming year:

  • Building the other machines in the mobile juice processing unit within Food Circle 1
  • Running other drying tests on different raw materials and with different drying techniques within Food Circle 2
  • Measuring the quality of fresh-cut winter fruits & vegetables and evaluating the sustainability of the packaging within Food Circle 3
  • Developing qualitative scenarios for the Food Circles
  • Launching the FOXLINK application
  • Continuing to engage consumers, retailers and producers locally in the regions