Social, economic and environmental impact assessment of small-scale fruit and vegetables processing systems

This PhD research focuses on the social, economic and environmental impact assessment of innovative types of small-scale processing systems that yield high-quality products with high nutritional value in response to consumer needs. The processing systems are mobile or flexible units that are used by vegetable producers and/or small and medium-sized enterprises of the first processing stage. The processing systems, that focus on mild and minimal processing, will be developed for six selected model regions throughout Europe. Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is applied, serving as harmonized European method that allows assessing and benchmarking the environmental impacts. For the social and economic impact assessment, data will be collected on labour use and job creation in the local food processing arena and in the (local) commercialization of the processed food products. Viable business model will be identified for the different systems.