Dedicated for more than 35 years to the formulation of post-harvest chem-free and organic solutions for fruits and vegetables, at Sanifruit we aim to achieve a sustainable and chem-free sector to protect the health of people and the environment.
Aligned with this objective, Sanifruit Chem-Free Day emerges. Our biennial informative day focused on natural post-harvest, whose 3rd edition we have celebrated this year. The main novelty of this edition is that we wanted the event to be focused on the fruit and vegetable sector in general, and not only on citrus as it had been done on previous occasions. Thus, Sanifruit wanted to emphasize the diversification of our range of solutions, as today we have experience not only in citrus, but also in stone fruit, pome fruit, melon, banana, avocado and pepper. Another important novelty that should be highlighted from this year’s edition is that the day was also broadcasted in streaming, in English and Spanish, thus meeting the needs of our customers internationally.
The event, which was a success, managed to unite all the actors involved in the supply chain, and not only those of the post-harvest sector.
The first four presentations were focused on the main problems of postharvest and their possible natural solutions: fungi, resistance, consequences for people’s health and edible coatings. Thus, Elena Costa of IRTA, gave a masterful presentation on how to identify the different fungi that affect citrus fruits, stone fruit and pome fruit. Mª José Fabra, researcher at IATA-CSIC, then reported on the different existing natural solutions in the form of edible natural coatings and her research on alternative solutions to phytosanitary products to extend the post-harvest life of fruits and vegetables.
After the coffee break, Nicolás Olea was waiting for us, to warn us of the serious consequences that toxic fungicides have on people’s health, and the importance of the authorities taking into account when legislating not only the limits of residues per active material individually, but the real consequences of the cocktail of chemicals together in human health.
Antonieta de Cal, on the other hand, closed the cycle of presentations talking about resistance to phytosanitary products and how to try to avoid them through the application of different post-harvest solutions.
After these excellent presentations given by professionals of the highest level, Sanifruit managed to bring together in a round table the different key actors of the supply chain of the sector, in a very interesting debate on sustainable agriculture. Moderated by Raquel Fuertes (journalist and manager of the newspaper Valencia Fruits), Stephan Rötzer (CEO of Sanlucar), Javier Arizmendi (COO of Zerya), Jaume Vercher (Field Director of the Valencian citrus company Frutas Tono), Julián Tío (Head of the Information Cabinet of the AVACU Consumer Association) and David Torres (General Director of Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture of the GVA) participated in the discussion.
The debate revolved around the concept of “sustainable agriculture”, the level of commitment of companies in the sector and what actions they carry out to favor that sustainability. The benefits of sustainable agriculture for producers, retailers and consumers were also discussed, as well as the benefits of a chem-free post-harvest. Finally, it was discussed how administrations and consumer associations could collaborate to ensure that the consumer is much more informed on health issues and sustainable agriculture, thus being able to make conscious decisions and demanding products that won’t affect their health.
Javier Biel (CEO of Sanifruit) and Erica Biel (Director of Innovation and Quality), were in charge of closing the day. Erica stressed the importance of innovation in our company, but always approached from the point of view of sustainability. For his part, Javier told us about how the company can provide natural post-harvest solutions to fruit and vegetable companies of citrus, stone fruit, melon, banana, avocado and pepper.
Finally, the company advanced that they could soon offer the sector many more solutions for other crops thanks to their intense work in continuous innovation.
Long story short, our 3rd Sanifruit Chem-Free Day has been an incredible experience for us, where the exchange of ideas and knowledge has been continuous and motivating, and where we have been able to approach the reality of sustainable agriculture from all points of view within the supply chain. We hope that for all of you who attended the event (either on-site or via streaming) the experience was as pleasant as for us.
At Sanifruit we want to thank all the attendees and, of course, all the collaborators, speakers and members of the round table.
Thank you all and see you again in 2 years.
We share with you below some photos of the event.
