INTEGRATED AND ORGANICS FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTS DRYING BY COMBINED TECHNOLOGY

The commodities of integrated fruit and vegetable production (IFVP) and organic fruit and vegetable production (OFVP) are welcome on the markets in the developed countries. The basic concept of IFVP and OFVP is to reduce or totally eliminate undesirable external impacts by including non-chemical methods and biological products. At the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad a brand new fruit drying technology was developed, consisting of osmotic and convective processes. Osmotic dehydration serves as a pre-treatment procedure. Combined technology was presented to the scientific community in Serbia and it was evaluated with high marks. The target of the project is to apply combined technology on IFVP and OFVP. The research will involve essential components of the technology. The procedures which do not include or minimally include chemical and synthetic materials will be studied. The critical points are non-bacterial and anti-oxidation fruit and vegetable protection and analysis of different osmotic solutions. Besides the impact of technology on final products quality, the following elements will be studied: (a) planning and managing of fruit and vegetable production; (b) detection and elimination of storage pests; (c) storage; (d) different packaging materials; (e) the technology equipment improvement; (f) introduction of renewable energy sources. Attention will be paid to apricot, nectarine, peach, pear, quince and root-like vegetables.