"GREENFOODEC will set up novel and advanced decontamination technologies, overcoming existing limitations for high quality preservation and microbial decontamination of herbs & spices.To solve the present limitations related to the use of the current technologies used for the preservation of spices, this project will focus on four novel technologies: High pressure CO2+ultrasound (HPCD+US), cold plasma (CP), and electromagnetic energy (microwave (MW) and infrared irradiation (IR)).The presentation of each product may play an important role in the efficacy of the treatments and the selection of the proper operating parameters. Hence, three different formats of products will be studied, which are representative of the commercial herbs & spices: herb, powder and seed.In order to have a real application in the European spice sector, three products have been considered as a reference: pepper or similar seed product, paprika or similar as representative for powder presentation and oregano or similar product as representative of herbs format.During the development of the project, SME-AGs and individual companies will contribute to several RTD tasks, such as the multicriterium assessment of the treated products and the final assessment of the direct use of treated herbs & spices on selected foodstuffs. This will later guarantee the success of the knowledge transfer from R&D centres to the sector companies and the exploitation of the results. The participation of the Associations will enable the dissemination of the results to a high number of companies increasing the quality of the spices, their trading and their consumption.This project will contribute to generate new opportunities in the food sector to produce high value products in the market."