The Barcelona Food Cluster Association, an organisation spearheaded by Mercabarna, is continuing to promote actions that can improve the competiveness of its food business members. The latest involved organising a visit to the Institute for Agrofood Research and Technology (IRTA) in Monells, Girona on 20 September, attended by nine companies. The visit was part of the activities scheduled within the innovation group the Association promotes.

The goal was to showcase IRTA’s potential for providing businesses with technological support in new-product development and to assess the viability of running joint initiatives. Most of the businesses that took part have in fact already made contact with the IRTA to assess and consider forms of collaboration.

Food technologies
The Cluster Association businesses were given a demonstration of different technologies by the Institute’s R&D manager, Eliecer López, the Food Industries Area manager Joan Tibau and the R&D technician, Anna Masdeu. The demonstrations covered matters such as high-pressure hydrostatics applied to foods to facilitate the elimination of toxins and extend a product’s useful life. Other functions include extracting the meat from a lobster in a way that ensures no piece remains stuck to the shell.

The visitors also saw other technologies being used, such as electromagnetic waves employed to defrost goods, new packaging for pre-cooked convenience foods and a sanitisation system for light pulses that can kill pathogens on the surface of processed meat and fish.