AZTI-Tecnalia has successfully completed the second of three phases to characterise by-products as set out in the Clean Feed project. It aims to use the vegetable by-products that are generated in the distribution sector and in the production and transformation processes of the foodstuffs industry, and incorporate them into animal feed. The function of the R+D centre is to characterise and classify the by-products that have the best characteristics so that they can be used for animal consumption. Also participating in the project alongside AZTI-Tecnalia are the Government of the Basque Autonomous Community (region), the Basque Foundation for Food Safety Elika, and Tecnalia's Industrial Systems Unit.

Clean Feed, funded by the European Union's Life+ Programme and co-funded by the Directorate for Food Innovation and Industry and the Directorate for Environmental Quality of the Government of the Basque Autonomous Community, is crucially important in the aim to prevent biodegradable products ending up in rubbish dumps. In the BAC-Basque Autonomous Community, about three quarters of the more than 25,000 tonnes of vegetable products and by-products generated ends up in the rubbish tips. To contribute towards mitigating this situation, AZTI-Tecnalia is working to characterise the various vegetable fractions produced in the BAC by drawing up a ‘generation inventory', and carrying out sampling and laboratory analyses. All this is designed to see whether the various vegetable by-products are suitable for incorporation into animal feed.

The various sectors of the Foodstuffs Industry that generate vegetable by-products are as follows: potato (29.6%), wine (27.7%), distribution (16.6%), cider (13.8%), bread (11.3%), fruit and vegetable (0.8%) and coffee (0.1%). AZTI-Tecnalia has exhaustively gathered information from these sectors in terms of the quantities, generation characteristics and current management of their by-products.

Sampling and laboratory analysis process

This expert R+D centre in marine and foodstuffs research has specified three phases of sampling -spring, summer/autumn and winter- in order to take into consideration seasonality in the typology of the vegetable by-products of each sector. It has also designed a sampling protocol and has selected the most relevant companies in each sector to ensure that the samples obtained are as representative as possible.

The samples are processed to be sent to the R+D centre's laboratories. The analysis parameters have been selected in order to evaluate whether the samples are suitable for incorporation into animal feed formulas. The samples are required to meet nutritional, market and legislative requirements established for animal feed.

The results of the analyses in the first phase of the sampling, which have yet to be confirmed by the analyses in the other two phases, highlight the high level of humidity in excess of 80%, low values of protein and fat, less than 1% in both cases, as well as about 5% in total sugars and 1-2% in total fibre. As regards the presence of undesirable substances, no abnormal values have been highlighted.

Apart from the analytical studies, the Clean Feed project aims to provide a technical solution for these by-products and carry out a full-scale pilot experience that will allow it to be validated and fine-tuned. The aim is to develop an effective, viable plan of action for the handling, processing, management and monitoring of the vegetable fractions for their use in animal feed.

Cutting the quantities reaching the rubbish dumps

Approximately three quarters of the over 25,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetable matter that is not marketed plus other vegetable by-products is going to find its way to the Basque Country's rubbish tips where it is managed as waste. In the case of fruit and vegetables, these are products that are not marketed for market criteria reasons (poor appearance, unattractive shape, close to their best-before dates, etc.); in the case of by-products, they have their origins in the production and transformation processes of the foodstuffs industry.

Current policies on waste are based on the cutting of the biodegradable waste sent to rubbish tips. A European Union directive and the Second Environmental Framework Plan for the BAC indicate that by 2012 the aim is to cut the biodegradable waste that ends up in rubbish tips by 50%. Likewise, the draft of the 3rd Environmental Framework Plan for the BAC 2011-2014 aims to increase the proportion of upgraded non-hazardous waste by 5% and promote the safe substituting of raw materials by means of by-products and waste through the development of standards and technical regulations.

 

2011. November 25th. The dairy products manufacturing company Central Lechera Asturiana is working by means of carbon footprint measurement and in collaboration with the R+D Centre AZTI-Tecnalia to cut the CO2eq emissions stemming from its top-selling products (milk packaged in tetra brick cartons and in bottles). This move is in keeping with its commitment to the fight against climate change and comes within the framework of its strategic plan for sustainability.

The calculation has been made in accordance with the internationally recognised PAS 2050 standard, and includes a detailed analysis of all the stages in the life cycle of the "B2C" (Business to Consumer) product, from the obtaining of the raw materials right up to the treatment, packaging, transport and distribution, use and consumption of the milk and end of life of the product.

This initiative has its beginnings in Central Lechera Asturiana's plan to reduce environmental impacts beyond its own processes, and involve the whole supply chain. The carbon footprint measurement has made it possible to quantify the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and specify, in terms of CO2eq, the various environmental improvements promoted as a result of its Sustainability Plan started in 2008.

One example is the starting up of a Plan for Sustainable Mobility involving various measurements designed to improve the distribution and logistics system. Among other actions this initiative is encouraging the use of the railway for goods transport, the use of biofuels for vehicles and the optimizing of transport routes, thus achieving a cut of 3,228 tonnes of CO2eq emitted during 2010.

Likewise, its commitment in the fight against climate change has also been reflected in the adopting of measures to reduce emissions through efficiency in the processes and the gradual incorporating of cleaner alternative energies. That way, thanks to the saving in primary energy generated in 2010 through the cogeneration and trigeneration systems introduced into its installations, it was possible to prevent the emission of 14,000 Mt of CO2eq.

Today, the foodstuffs industry finds itself in a very competitive and increasingly global market, and needs to seek solutions to cut production costs and be able to maintain a trade margin. Likewise, as far as consumers, the industry and the general public are concerned, the awareness and demand for aspects relating to sustainability and respect for the environment are growing and becoming more and more relevant.

In this respect, the carbon footprint measurement makes it possible to introduce sustainability criteria into company strategy and also provide a more accurate focus of the measures to be adopted to cut CO2 emissions. The commitment comes within the framework of one of the five cornerstones of the Plan for Sustainability which Central Lechera Asturiana has drawn up; it sets out to guide all the initiatives developed by the organisation within this commitment and to establish the bases for making economic growth compatible with environmental conservation through the increase in productivity efficiency by consuming fewer resources and generating less waste.

A Sustainability Plan on all levels

The carbon footprint calculation is just one of the actions that Central Lechera Asturiana is carrying out to reduce its environmental impacts. The efficient management of water (though the calculation of the Water Footprint, i.e. the water used to produce a litre of milk), the optimization of energy consumption or the cut in the waste materials of the containers placed on the market or those generated by the production process itself are just some of these activities.

• CO2eq: equivalent carbon dioxide, taking the warming potential of each gas with respect to CO2 into consideration

 

"El Libro del Zumo", una publicación realizada por la Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Zumos (Asozumos) y la Asociación Española de Autocontrol de Zumos y Néctares (AEAZN) y que ha contado con la colaboración del Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino (MARM), AZTI-Tecnalia, CNTA, Ecosur, Food for life Spain, JBTFoodTech y Tetra Pak, pretende ser la obra de referencia con la que dar a conocer al consumidor -a través de prescriptores- todo lo relativo a este producto desde su cultivo hasta su puesta en venta en los lineales de las tiendas donde pueden adquirirlo, pero pasando de forma rigurosa por la transformación y propiedades de esta categoría.

Según Óscar Hernández, presidente de Asozumos y AEAZN, "nuestra intención, a través de esta obra, es poner de relieve las propiedades de un alimento natural y sano, muy adaptado a la demanda de los tiempos actuales. Además, a lo largo del documento, el lector podrá conocer cuáles son los principales aspectos agronómicos y de sostenibilidad del cultivo de una u otra fruta y qué valores nutricionales tiene el producto ya elaborado, en los que hacemos especial hincapié".

Otros aspectos que se podrán encontrar son los temas relacionados con la composición, características y controles de seguridad, autenticidad y calidad de los zumos y néctares, así como sus propiedades nutricionales y saludables, ya que los zumos y néctares son la única categoría de producto alimentario que tiene un sistema propio de autocontrol que regula estos aspectos.

En palabras de Hernández, "hemos elaborado un libro muy completo, riguroso y al mismo tiempo divulgativo, en un formato muy interesante para que resulte agradable a la lectura, que esperamos sea del agrado de todos y que se convierta en referencia a la hora de hablar o escribir sobre los zumos y los néctares".

1.500 ejemplares de "El libro del Zumo" serán distribuidos entre nutricionistas, médicos, medios de comunicación, Administración Pública, investigadores y operadores del sector. Además se ejercitarán otras vías informativas de modo on- line y a través de las redes sociales.

AZTI-Tecnalia has just published a "Recruitment Forecasting Software" which is a fish recruitment prediction software, used to build a robust classifier for fish recruitment prediction with sparse and noisy data. However the software can be used to predict any ecosystem answer where the relation cause effect is unknown but a relation between a number of environmental parameters and the variable to be predicted can be expected.

The methodology consists of 4 steps:

• A semi-automated recruitment discretization method;
• Supervised discretization of predictors;
• Multivariate and non-redundant predictors selection;
• Learning a probabilistic classifier.