Project WHEYSAN got the approval of the Research Executive Agency (REA) of the second periodic report, the final report and the
financial statements previously established. The financial contribution of EU increases to EUR 684.211,33.

Once the obstacles have been overcome, project WHEYSAN get the European finance because of the success of the work during two years.

The European Commission has sending a letter to the Project Coordinator (Agrofield S.L.) to confirm the positive evaluation of the
project by the agency that funded the research carried out by this international consortium.
 

 With the project already concluded, WHEYSAN was represented with a poster by partner DIT at the 43rd Annual Food Research Conference
held the 10th and 11th of December 2014 at the Institute of Food and Health University College Dublin in conjunction with SafeFood.
This conference focuses on providing opportunities to young scientists to present their research.

Partner DIT presented at this conference a poster titled “The potential influence of whey for the post-harvest preservation of
nutritional value, antioxidants and shelf-life in fruits and vegetables”, through which WHEYSAN results were shared with the rest of
attendees.

There they explained how the purpose of the WHEYSAN project was to fully investigate the potential of whey, a by-product from the
production of cheese industry to act as a nutraceutical solution for some of the issues that the food industry currently faces, and how
the project addresses the problems of whey production management, the postharvest treatment of fruits and vegetables (F&V) and helps
replace chlorine as a sanitizer to avoid the possible formation of carcinogenic chlorinated compounds in water.

The poster reflected how whey and its derivatives have shown promising results as an alternative preservative to chlorine for retaining
the nutritional quality of F&V. Various whey samples from different sources were processed with a range of omega repliki treatments. The F&V samples on which the selected whey sample
was tested on were also treated with chlorine and distilled water, in order to compare the efficiency of the whey against the chlorine
sanitizer. The results found that the whey treatment will be used as a potential washing agent for F&V to extend the shelf-life and
maintain the nutritional quality during storage.

In short, these results will help resolve the problems of chlorine as a sanitizer for F&V.
 

 Two years have passed since the project began in November 2012, and it has finally come to an end. A lot of time and effort has been
spent so as to achieve the targets that had then been set and obtain the most suitable whey based formula solution for the sanitizing
of whole and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.

Project WHEYSAN’s results have been satisfactory for all partners. Among the final achievements we can find the definition of the
following:

1. The most appropriate kind of whey as an alternative to chlorine
2. The most efficient whey processing protocol
3. The most suitable formula containing the whey-based sanitizer
4. Industrial protocol for sanitizer application to fresh-cut F&V
5. Industrial protocol for sanitizer application to whole F&V

Through the following link you can find access to the project’s summary video, recorded near to the project’s end in Fruit
Attraction fair, but with images and results obtained all along the project’s life:

http://youtu.be/h9YCDLS6ndI

Last but not least, thanks to all partners involved in this project. Thanks to Agrofield, Cita, DIT, Verdifresh, Campotec, HFC, Ecosoil
and Contactica, and thanks to the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for making it possible. We really look forward to
being able to exploit the project results in the next future within, potentially, Horizon 2020 SME Instrument.
 

 The consortium partners Agrofield, Campotec, DIT, Cita and Contactica reunited again for a new Steering Committee (SC) and Project
Coordination Committee (PCC) meeting in partner Campotec’s facilities in Torres Vedras, Portugal, close to the end of the project.

All up to date actions, tasks and deliverables were discussed, and those technical issues still pending for submission were reviewed so
as to see how to conclude them satisfactorily within the project’s schedule. The work Packages, tasks and deliverables situation was
therefore studied. Overall, the key issues for the end of the project were discussed successfully.

The week before this meeting, Fruit Attraction international trade show was held, with an important presence of WHEYSAN with both a
stand as an imparted lecture on its objectives, progress and results. So, this topic was also an object of discussion in the meeting
for evaluating the dissemination achievements obtained with the participation on the fair, as well as the conclusions obtained on the
target market in which the developed formula will be commercialized.

In this moment and at this stage of the project, dissemination actions and technical, financial and administrative documents omega zegark�w repliki needed for the end of the project were the key topics
to be contemplated, among the latter being important the periodic as well as the final report.

Finally, the meeting ended with the partners talking on the exploitation of project results and further actions that could be held,
such as the IPR issues and the intention of participating in the future on Horizon 2020 dedicated SME instrument for the final
commercialization of WHEYSAN’s project results and its whey based formula.
 

 Project WHEYSAN participated actively in Fruit Attraction 2014, an international trade show celebrated in IFEMA in Madrid, Spain, from
the 15th to the 17th of October 2014. This event is an important reference for the horticulture sector in European production.

In the course of this sixth edition of Fruit Attraction not only was a stand rented for WHEYSAN, but also a lecture was given by
partner Contactica so as to promote and disseminate the project’s objectives, progress and results to both professional and end
users. Other partners that were also present in the fair and helped promote WHEYSAN were Agrofield and Cita, as well as Campotec, who
had its own stand also.

The talk about WHEYSAN was held in a space of the fair dedicated to present innovations (FORO INNOVA). This talk was held the 15th of
October 2014 with the title “WHEYSAN: Alternativa Orgánica al tratamiento de frutas” (WHEYSAN: Organic alternative to F&V
treatment). Here, project results and achievements until that moment were presented.

After the lecture, different people visited the stand demanding more information about WHEYSAN, and many face-to-face contacts were
obtained. Different stands were also visited in order to get useful information rolex repliki zegark�w about competitors, industry, markets and end-users.

WHEYSAN’s presence in Fruit Attraction was there for a major dissemination activity for the project, and was very useful to
understand the target market in which the developed formula will be commercialized.
 

 Different training activities have been organized by RTD partners towards SME and LE partners in order to report the project advances.

Project WHEYSAN partners Cita, Agrofield and Campotec participated in one of such activities on the 17th of September of 2014, activity
that was organized in Campotec facilities in Torres Vedras, Portugal. Here, Campotec, the SME host of the event, explained to partners
Cita and Agrofield the production lines that they had in their facilities and the necessities of the company regarding sanitizers.

Partners Cita and Agrofield inform Campotec about the most suitable application conditions of the sanitizing formula for their
facilities as they previously replica uhren did with partner Citrus earlier in May of
that year. In this training, however, a demonstration of application technologies in F&V was also carried out.
 

 From the 7th to the 9th of September 2014, WHEYSAN partner DIT attended the 7th International Whey Conference in Rotterdam,
Netherlands, in representation of the project. There they exhibited a poster on the investigation of the bioactive compounds of whey
and their potential nutraceutical applications/benefits in fruits and vegetables.

DIT partner explained that the aim of Project WHEYSAN is to carry out a full investigation into the potential of whey permeate, a
by-product from the production of cheese industry as a nutracetical solution for some of the issues that the food industry currently
faces. They sustained to all those present that this by-product will address the problems of whey production management, the
postharvest treatment replica uhren of fruits and vegetables (F&V) and replace
chlorine as a sanitizer to avoid the possible formation of carcinogenic chlorinated compounds in water, as they explained how the
project was progressing in order to obtain such achievement.
 

 Another Steering Committee (SC) and Project Coordination Committee (PCC) meeting was held the 28th of May, this time in partner
CITRUS’ facilities located in Aranda de Duero, Spain. Aside from the host, other participants in this meeting were partners
Agrofield, Ecosoil, DIT, CITA and Contactica.

18 months ahead in the project and accordingly following the established agenda, the main issue was to review the project’s tasks and
deliverables, both those that had already been carried out up to date as well as those that were expected to start in the next 3
months.

In regard to those deliverables already submitted, partner DIT began explaining the different tasks and results obtained, and reported
on what they found out to be the most efficient whey processing protocol.

Also, partner CITA explained those tasks and results carried out on their respective Work Packages (WPs). CITA has been able to select
the best batch of whey and optimize the concentration of whey samples to extend the shelf-life of whole and fresh-cut fruits and
vegetables (F&V). In the meantime, the development of the formulation containing the whey-based sanitizer was also in progress.

When it comes to those tasks expected to be carried out by the next 3 months, a quick review of all work packages and tasks already
started and those to be started was made. All partners present at the meeting were aware of the work that needed to be done.
Collaboration between partners would be crucial at this point for the upcoming demonstration stage of the project.

Another important point that was discussed in the meeting were the dissemination actions already carried out by the consortium and the
future actions that should be undertaken for that matter.

Lastly, all doubts regarding industry issues such as transportation and logistics and that related to industrial use and
commercialization were clarified, and the meeting concluded with the explanation to all partners of the technical and financial issues
required for the consortium to submit the Final Report to the European Commission.
 

 Different training activities have been organized by RTD partners towards SME and LE partners in order to report the project advances.

Citrus facilities in Aranda del Duero in Spain were this time’s training location, where Project WHEYSAN’s partners Cita, Agrofield
and, of course, Citrus, reunited the 27th of May 2014 to share their knowledge gained up till now that could be useful for the
project’s suitable progress.

The aim foreseen with this training was for partner Citrus to explain partners Cita and Agrofield the production lines that they had in
their facilities, and the necessities of the company regarding sanitizers. Partners Cita and Agrofield then informed Citrus about the
most suitable application conditions of the sanitizing formula for their facilities.
 

 Different training activities have been organized by RTD partners towards SME and LE partners in order to report the project advances.

After a first approach to training on the whey formula application techniques the past month in partner Cita’s facilities, where Cita
and the project coordinator Agrofield met so as to study the most suitable technology and equipment from AGF for the application of the
whey formula in fruits and vegetables (F&V), a second training activity on such purpose has been undertaken in the same location in La
Rioja, Spain on the 26th of May 2014.

While the first time only Cita and Agrofield participated, now Project WHEYSAN SME partner Ecosoil has also joined the training. After
having previously studied the rolex repliki technology and equipment that could be used,
all three consortium partners carried out a training and demonstration of such equipment provided from Agrofield for the application of
the whey formula in F&V. 

 Different training activities have been organized by RTD partners towards SME and LE partners in order to report the project advances.

An activity considered to be relevant was to teach the techniques for the application of the whey formula obtained through Project
WHEYSAN’s execution. Participants in this training were partners Cita and the project coordinator Agrofield, and the location chosen
for the training activity held on the 11th of April 2014 was Cita’s facilities in La Rioja, Spain.

Agrofield provides the technology and equipment necessary to apply the formula in fruits and vegetables (F&V), and so the target of
this training was for RTD partner Cita and Agrofield to study which of that technology and equipment are the most suitable for the
application of the studied whey formula in F&V.
 

 The 7th of February 2014 took place the industry workshop “Waste not Want not – Recovering Value from Food Waste” in Dublin in
Scotland, UK, organized by the Teagasc Food Research Centre and the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science. Project WHEYSAN was
involved in this workshop with the lecture given by partner DIT titled “Milking dairy industry to avoid waste”.

In this lecture two DIT delegates explained the basics of Project WHEYSAN and why it is of value: how extending the shelf-life of fruit
and vegetable (F&V) products is an important demand of the industry and consumers; how chlorine solutions have been widely used in the
industry to retain the quality of fruits and vegetables but there is a need to find new alternatives; how whey permeate is a by-product
of the production of whey protein concentrates from cheese processing that could function better than those products already in the
market… And how there are promising results indeed being obtained for a natural bio-preservative for F&V.
 

 Different training activities have been organized by RTD partners towards SME and LE partners in order to report the project advances.


One of these training activities was regarding the whey treatment. This training was held between the 6th and 14th of June 2013 in SME
partner Highland Fine Cheese’s (HFC) facilities in Scotland, United Kingdom.

The training was held by RTD partner DIT towards partner HFC, with the visit of Dr. Lubna Ahmed from DIT to the HFC facilities.
Training was performed so as to explain procedures such as how to collect the whey wastes, the heat treatment, or the packaging of the
samples.
 

 The 3rd of October 2013 took place in the headquarters of the REA in Brussels the first review meeting of project WHEYSAN. The
participating partners were: Agrofield, HFC, Campotec, Citrus, DIT, CITA and Contactica. 

The main objective of the meeting was to review the first Periodic Report with the Project Officer and an external reviewer and to hold
a Steering Committee meeting and a project Coordination Committee meeting.

During the meeting with the REA, some of the issues dealt were a project overview, a status report, deviations, delays, management
issues and an explanation of the work done by the RTDs to meet the SMEs expectations.

Special attention was given to the fulfillment of the SME-End users objectives regarding to Technical background, Expected output from
project, Assessment of the current status and commercial plans. Moreover the dissemination activities were also shown during the
meeting.
The meeting finished with the feedback of the REA and the external reviewer. 

As regards the Steering Committee meeting and the project Coordination Committee meeting, it was reviewed the progress of the WPs,
tasks and deliverables taking into account all the technical and financial issues. 

Specific attention was given to the industry issues where all the aspects concerning the industrial partners where tackled.
Finally, project partners reviewed the expectations for the following 3 months as regards tasks, deliverables and milestones.

 

 A new WHEYSAN meeting took place on the 20th of May 2013 in the facilities of partner DIT in Ireland. The participating partners were:
Agrofield, DIT, CITA and Contactica. 

During this event it took place a Steering Committee meeting and a project Coordination Committee meeting. 

One of the issues dealt during the transnational meeting was the presentation of the official project website:
http://www.contactica.es/wheysan/. It is a very dynamic website with private and public areas which include all the project
achievements.
Moreover it was reviewed the progress of the WPs, tasks and deliverables taking into account all the technical and financial issues. 

Specific attention was given to the industry issues where all the aspects concerning the industrial partners where tackled.

The meeting also included a visit to DIT facilities, host of the event.
 

 A new European project, funded by the 7th EU-Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) has been launched.
The project, called WHEYSAN, seeks a natural alternative to chlorine for post-harvest treatments and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables,
based on the revaluation of by-products of the dairy industry. The kick of meeting of the project consortium was held in the
headquarters of CITA (Centro de Innovacion y Tecnologia Alimentaria de La Rioja) in Calahorra.

The Project WHEYSAN, led by the company Agrofield, S.L, seeks first of all to provide a solution to the dairy industry, which generates
a large amount of whey which is considered to be a highly pollutant product for the environment, and on the other hand to find an
alternative to chlorine as a disinfectant of fruits and vegetables.

The main objective of WHEYSAN is to offer a competitive solution for the participating SMEs through the development of a natural
sanitizing formula for post-harvest and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables treatments. In other words, the latest scientific advances in
basic research for the transformation of an abundant waste product (whey) into a value added and respectful with the environment
product will be offered.

As a result, the sanitizing product will be a viable alternative to the use of chlorine to sanitize fruits and vegetables. Different
applications regarding the product application will be explored:  thermo-nebulization, fogging and spraying.

Project Consortium: Project WHEYSAN is made up with SMEs, associations and RTDs from Portugal, UK, Serbia and Spain.
In particular the Project Consortium is composed by the project coordinator, Agrofield S.L., a Spanish company expert in the sanitation
of fruits and vegetables and the following project partners: Highland Fine Cheeses Ltd (UK), Campotec-Comercializacao, Consultadoria de
Hortofruticolas SA (Portugal), Ecosoil Ltd (Serbia), Dublin Institute of Technology (Irland), Centro de Innovacion y Tecnologia
Alimentaria de La Rioja CITA (Spain), Citrus Levante SLU (Spain) and Contactica SL (Spain).

The project has a budget of 1.113.557,2 Euros with an European subsidy of 862.000 Euros. The execution time is 24 months.

During the kick off meeting, all partners agreed the researching calendar and various aspects of the project coordination.