The OLIVEPACK project, funded by PRIMA Program offers an innovative, circular economy-oriented bio-based antimicrobial food packaging specifically tailored to increase the shelf life of table olives, reducing the need for high salt concentrations or chemical additives.
Table olives, native food products of the Mediterranean region with superior nutritional value, are of utmost economic importance due to not only their abundant consumption in the region, but also due to their export to the rest of the world in large quantities. A suitable shelf life for naturally fermented table olives is ensured either by high sodium concentrations during storage or the use of preservatives, both of which not only threaten human health, but also put the economic value of table olives at risk by diminishing their natural origin. OLIVEPACK aims at providing an innovative, circular economy-oriented antimicrobial food packaging solution that will greatly contribute to the quality and safety, as well as to the economic value of table olives in the Mediterranean region.
The OLIVEPACK consortium unites six partners from four countries—Türkiye, Tunisia, Spain, and Portugal—combining diverse expertise to drive this pioneering project forward.
The overall objective of OLIVEPACK is to advance an antimicrobial packaging solution fornaturally fermented table olives, that will increase their shelf life and allow them to be stored at low sodium content and without preservatives, thus enhancing their quality and safety.
Within the scope of OLIVEPACK, a biobased, biodegradable, antimicrobial bionanocomposite foam composed of natural components, that is designed to be placed into any table olive packaging as a packaging insert will be developed.
Adapting a circular economy approach, the packaging inserts will be composed of natural antimicrobial agents extracted from table olive wastewater and polymer matrix extracted from olive tree waste.
Through a multidisciplinary approach integrating expertise in materials science, food microbiology, sensory analysis and food science, the food packaging inserts will be evaluated in terms of their antimicrobial activity, their effect on the nutritional, physicochemical and sensory properties of table olives, and also their market acceptance and socioeconomic impact.
