Citrosol?s portable laboratories

Over the last few weeks we have welcomed National and International customers to CITROSOL’s facilities in Potríes (Valencia) where they have started to learn how to use EASY KIT® in our training rooms. "The results are fantastic as our clients are performing their own analyzes, with real fruit, and in less than an hour the test results are known; the data that allows them to know if their treatments in respect of residues on the fruit are better than distribution requirements or if they are below effective levels needed in terms of the homogeneity of the concentrations to control decay", said Juanjo Ferrandis, manager of the EASY KIT® project. When transferred to the day to day activity of the packinghouse, the qualitative change introduced by the EASY KIT® is enormous and the range of examples is very varied. Currently shipments to Asian markets are continuing to grow and until now an exporter has needed several days to obtain the results of analysis by an accredited laboratory. "Three days to acquire data related to fungicide concentrations is too long as, if the results are found to be outside acceptable limits, the merchandise has already started travelling to its destination. However, now our clients can use the EASY KIT® right there in the packinghouse and in less than an hour know the results and act accordingly, correcting and avoiding unwanted situations, and providing greater room for adjustment", emphasized Juanjo Ferrandis. Thanks to EASY KIT® you can adjust the doses of the treatments to comply to the MRLs of the distribution chain. Already, this new system analyzes Imazalil, Pyrimethanil and Orthophenylphenol, although Citrosol will be incorporating the measurement of other fungicides in due course. Along with on-site analyzes of treated fruit, EASY KIT® can measure treatment solutions, combinations of fungicide levels in wax and concentrations in the residual water. "Even more than that, thanks to EASY KIT® our clients can detect if the level of residue on the fruit is correct whilst being held in storage and if not, they will know to remove them", Ferrandis added. Effective concentrations without decay problemsEASY KIT® is simple to use, economical and fast in obtaining results. Analyzes of treatment solutions and waxes require only 25-30 minutes depending on the number of samples analysed, and in the case of measuring residual levels on the fruit, several samples can be analyzed in just 40-45 minutes. Citrosol’s great new step analyzes fungicides used in citrus production, but also one of those fungicides, Pyrimethanil, is also widely used in fruit with pips, such as pear and apple. As EASY KIT® extends the range of fungicides covered so will its agricultural segment coverage expand. "There is no other similar tool for portable, quick, simple and low-cost analysis of post-harvest residues and fungicides in situ, right there on the shop floor" emphasized Benito Orihuel, the company’s CEO and Science Director.EASY KIT® is a new solution for screening post-harvest processing and final product processes within the Accredited Quality Standards (ISO 9000, ISO 14000, HACCP) and Good Agricultural Practices (GlobalG.A.P), as well as ensuring compliance with both distribution chain and legal requirements in relation to residue levels, which does not require specialized personnel. Exporters can have a tool at their disposal that allows them to fine tune their treatments and shipments, providing maximum mitigation of possible claims at destination. One more step toward 'precision agriculture'. Citrosol has been developing this concept for some years now and EASY KIT® is just one of the elements of “postharvest precision”. Pictures1. Members of the EASY KIT® development team from Iata-CSIC, UV (University of Valencia) and Citrosol2. and 3. Training session for the Quality Control staff of a packing house ContactProductos Citrosol S.A.Partida Alameda Parc. C. - 46721Potries (Valencia). EspañaTel.: +34 96 280 05 12@Citrosol_comcitrosol@citrosol.com