Phenoliva
Olive oil production is responsible for large amounts of agricultural by-products, with only 20% of the olive fruit harvested resulting in actual Extra virgin olive oil. The remaining 80%, known as olive pomace, is considered waste.
Background
Most Mediterranean countries face serious environmental and economic problems handling this waste as its chemical composition creates challenges for stability, recycling and further processing. However, olive pomace itself has a high olive antioxidant content, meaning this abundant and low-cost by-product has development potential for a wide range of value-added products.
The PHENOLIVA project brings together partners from the food industry, research and academia in order to implement an integrated waste management concept for the olive oil industry. Using a novel process, we will extract olive antioxidants from olive pomace, and process the resulting extract into an innovative food antioxidant.
Research goals
The PHENOLIVIA project is perfectly aligned with the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy by offering a healthy, sustainable, equitable food ingredient which contributes to the circular economy of Olive oil production. As part of this project, the start-up Gaia Technologies GmbH (external page www.gaiatech.ch) has been created with the mission to commercialise the project results.
The Phenoliva project is an EIT Food innovation project funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, under Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. For more information on the project, please visit the Phenoliva website (external page https://www.eitfood.eu/projects/phenoliva/about-phenoliva).
Contact
Professur f. Lebensmittelbiochemie
Schmelzbergstrasse 9
8092
Zürich
Switzerland