GO HIGOS: Operational group applying innovative strategies in the Spanish dried fig sector for maximum hygienic-sanitary quality
- Type Grupo operativo
- Status In progress
- Execution 2024 -2027
- Scope Supraautonómico
- Autonomous community Castilla y León; Cataluña; Extremadura
- Main source of financing PEPAC 2023-2027
The current strategy for controlling health risks establishes the implementation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point systems. This system requires detecting and controlling hazards in the different phases of production and processing.
The aim is to obtain results that translate into obtaining sanitary safe figs, avoiding the presence of moulds that potentially produce mycotoxins. It starts from initial varietal selection and cultivation processes, using rapid non-destructive genetic and genomic detection tools on a digital traceability platform.
It establishes safe control strategies for the consumer, eliminating the use of synthetic fungicides that pose a risk to the consumer.
The added value goes beyond innovations in the generation of processes; a new work culture is proposed based on cooperation between all the actors in the sector, including the market and consumers. Sessions will be held to understand consumer preferences and tests will be carried out to obtain dried figs with a quality seal, which can be sold to national and international markets.
Dried fig is a food of high nutritional and functional quality.
The presence of toxigenic moulds in foods with low water content, such as dried figs, and the accumulation of mycotoxins derived from it, represents a major food safety problem, constituting a serious inconvenience for the marketing and production of derived products.
For this reason, it is vitally important for this sector to develop strategies that limit the development of these moulds, from production to obtaining the final product.
- Clonal selection of Calabacita and Cuello de Dama, in Extremadura and Castilla y León.
- Application of cultivation techniques related to tillage, pruning, fertilization, irrigation and disease control.
- Implementation of different techniques related to bird and predator control.
- Use of non-destructive and genomic techniques for the detection of moulds and mycotoxins during cultivation, for a digital monitoring and traceability platform. Workshop with users. Preparation and development of a manual of good agricultural practices.
- Evaluation and detection of hazards and critical points during harvesting, initial handling in the field and transport. Use of rapid, non-destructive and genomic technology to determine the level of ripeness, drying of figs on the tree, fungal development and mycotoxins.
- Use of nets for optimal collection.
- Selection and provision of suitable containers.
- Use of innovative natural dryers. Application of non-destructive technologies to detect hazards and control points in storage, processing and packaging in industry. Preventive management during processing for the classification of dried figs.
- Use of temperature and relative humidity controlled chambers. Image analysis for rapid detection of fungi and mycotoxins.
- Application of nanoparticles with natural substances, ionizing atmospheres, during storage.
- Design of packaging prototypes using 3D packaging, with the highest hygienic and sanitary quality and sustainable materials. Application of active modified atmospheres, alone or combined with other systems, during packaging.
- Determination of quality parameters of varieties and preparation of documentation for the competent body.
In the rural context in which the proposed innovative solutions and techniques are intended to be applied, there are currently well-established traditional practices, especially with regard to the cultivation, harvesting, transportation, storage and packaging of dried figs.
The smallholdings and the diversity of criteria on the part of each owner further accentuate the difficulty in coordinating actions in the use of innovative techniques proposed by research centres. The traditional system of obtaining dried figs, with the collection and drying of the fruits on the ground, as well as their subsequent processing and storage, generate favourable ecological conditions for the development of toxigenic moulds both inside and on the surface of the product.
For this reason, it is vitally important for this sector to develop strategies that limit the development of these undesirable moulds from production to obtaining the final product, thus achieving safe and healthy products.
The project proposes a collaborative space, with real support in crop plots, warehouses and industries and real transport systems, for open innovation involving farmers, industries and researchers. The aim is to generate innovative responses to social and technological problems, with the co-participation and co-development of users who have to apply the new innovative techniques. The project covers the entire dried fig production process, its entire value chain, from the varietal selection phase, agricultural production, drying, storage, industrial production and marketing.
The CICYTEX working group has studied the varieties Calabacita and Cuello Dama Blanco in different production systems, as well as the most appropriate cultivation techniques such as pruning or harvesting systems with suspended nets. We started with a work of evaluation of the control of toxigenic molds in matured foods, through environmental, microbial factors and ingredients that regulate the expression of mycotoxins.
As a result of previous studies, the UEX working group has mainly isolated species of the genera Cladosporium, Penicillium and Aspergilus in dried and fresh figs.
The project proposes a collaborative space, with real support in cultivation plots, warehouses and industries and real transport systems, for open innovation involving farmers, industries and researchers. The aim is to generate innovative responses to social and technological problems, with the co-participation and co-development of users who have to apply the new innovative techniques. The project covers the entire dried fig production process, its entire value chain, from the varietal selection phase, agricultural production, drying, storage, industrial production and marketing.
- Application of agronomic tools for the control of parasites and mycotoxigenic molds in adaptive and demonstration plots.
- Innovative, first-hand, optimal harvesting tools.
- Management guidelines and establishment of preventive measures during storage and at different stages of processing to prevent the development of hygiene and health hazards.
- Control during storage, at the end of processing and development of packaging models, through the application of innovative and sustainable techniques.
- Quality label that guarantees the highest hygienic-sanitary quality throughout the production and processing chain.
- Strategy for the commercialization and enhancement of innovative and sustainable techniques.
- Application of user involvement techniques: workshop by phases of the process, usability testing in the real context of experimental plots and questionnaires to measure the degree of acceptance.
- Integration of process and results in an open platform for collaboration and customization.
- Communication plan for the application of technological innovation in the sector
- Coordinator name: ASSOCIATION FOR THE INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SIERRA DE MONTANCHEZ AND TAMUJA
- Postal address: CACERES ROAD EX. 206 KM 34.800 10186 SANTA MARIA TOWER (CACERES)
- Coordinator email: adismonta@adismonta.com
- Phone: +34659705843
- Asociación para el Desarrollo Integral de Sierra de Montánchez y Tamuja (ADISMONTA)
- REGADHIGOS
- APROCEX
- COOPERATIVA NTRA. SRA. DE LA CONSOLACIÓN DEL CASTILLO
- GREDOSUR
- AGRUPACIÓN DE COOPERATIVAS DEL VALLE DEL JERTE
- HIGOS EL PAJARERO, S.L.
- Asociación para el Desarrollo Integral de Sierra de Montánchez y Tamuja (ADISMONTA)
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