They will do this in the framework of the fourteenth World Processed Fruits Congress, organized by the Association of Preservers and Food Companies of Murcia, Alicante and Albacete (Agrupal), which will take place from October 16 to 19 at the Siete Coronas hotel in Murcia. More than a hundred speakers are expected to participate.
The president of Agrupal, José García, explained that the congress will be attended by producers from the main countries involved in the fruit processing industry, such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, Greece, Italy, the UK, South Africa and, for the first time this year, China, which is a great consumer of these products and, by far, the world's largest producer.
He pointed out that the Asian giant is "not yet good organized" when it comes to offering reliable figures, but that they have chosen to add technology and industrialization to these processes and must learn from Murcian producers in the field of controls and food safety.
The Region of Murcia, he recalled, is the main producer of processed fruits and vegetables in Spain, and its food industry moves 6,000 million Euro annually (1,700 million in exports), with some 600 million corresponding to the canning industry.
García also told López Miras about the need to find a solution to reduce the costs of shipping and dumping of brines generated by some of the canning activities, such as those of pickles.
Agrupal is committed to promoting new technologies to make it possible for the production companies themselves to eliminate those brines and thus prevent the high current transport costs.
Other technical novelties that will also be addressed during the congress are the new fruit peeling techniques with thermo-physical systems, in which no chemical products are used. This is not only an improvement for the product, but also for the environment, as no chemical waste is generated.
Source: EFE
