Institutional activities - Engineering and Agro-Food Processing

The Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing was established as part of the CREA reorganization in May 2017, through the aggregation of 6 territorial structures: Monterotondo (RM), Treviglio (BG), Rome (Inviolatella), Milan, Turin and Pescara.

The offices in Monterotondo and Treviglio, formerly Agriculture Mechanization Experimental Institute and then transformed into the Agricultural Engineering Research Unit in 1999, mainly deal with agricultural engineering. The Rome-Inviolatella site, with competences on different quality aspects of cereal production, including agronomic yield,  phytopathological, health and safety-related issues (mycotoxins) and, in particular, on technological process and quality of cereals, derives from the Experimental Institute for Cereal Research (ISC - 1967), even before the National Institute of Genetics for Cereal Crops in Rome founded in 1919 by Nazareno Strampelli.

The structure of Milan, with main skills in the transformation and conservation of fruit and vegetables, originates from the Research Unit for the processes of the agro-food industry deriving from the Experimental Institute for Agricultural Products Technologies originated in 1967, former Experimental Station of Refrigeration founded in 1919.

The Pescara office, which deals with the evaluation of the oil and table olives, originates from the Research Center for Olive Growing and Olive Oil Industry, formerly Experimental Institute for Olive Oil Technology since 1968 and Royal Experimental Station for Olive Growing and Oil Mill since 1931.

The Turin office was born as a peripheral research group in 2004 of the Research Center for the Soil-Plant System by the previous organization.