Scientists at a start-up company known as Apeel Sciences have figured out a way to double the lifespan of fruits and vegetables as well as cut flowers – without using chemicals or genetic engineering. Some say it could be a game changer for pesticide-free farming.
This is a significant breakthrough, as NPR blogger Nathan Siegel writes, around the globe, roughly one-third of our food is thrown out, or $750 billion annually, with an even greater percentage in the U.S. because it goes bad before we’re able to consume it.
In order to address this major issue, scientist James Rogers and his team have created an array of all-natural films for produce that help prolong life, as much as 200 percent in some cases, as well as reducing the need for pesticides. The products are for growers as well as grocers.
While the company’s films can’t replace pesticides, they could certainly help make a dent in the amount used. In the U.S. alone, as Siegel notes, one billion pounds of pesticides are used annually, harming air and water quality, bees, national parks and 72 million birds per year.
But, if all pesticides were abolished without using an alternative, Bjorn Lomborg states in The Skeptical Environmentalist, “the lives saved would be outnumbered by a factor of around 1,000 by the lives lost due to poorer diets.”
The concept for this new product is not necessarily a new one, but something that dates back millions of years. Rogers points out that as part of the evolutionary process, protective films on water plants allowed them to survive on land. Apeel is just expanding on what nature has already done, he said.
In order to develop the antimicrobial film, the team extracts certain molecules from rejected produce or unused parts such as stalks, leaves and peels, and uses them to create a water-based solution that covers fresh produce in an extra-thin layer of “invisible, tasteless, organic and completely edible” protection.
One of its products, named Edipeel, is a natural preservative for fresh-cut lettuce, citrus fruits and other produce. Another, Invisipeel, is a molecular mix that repels pests like bacteria, fungi and insects, effectively camouflaging fruit and veggies.
While working toward a PhD in the UC Santa Barbara’s Materials Engineering Department, Rogers teamed up with researcher and chemist Jenny Du. When their experiments and initial results showed real progress, they received a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further their research into natural preservation. Following thousands of trials and positive results the company recently raised $1.25 million from local angel investors and a venture capital firm.
The first product that will be released and available next quarter, Florapeel, is for extending the life of cut flowers. Invisipeel, for pesticide-free farming and Edipeel, for extending the shelf life of produce, is expected to follow close behind.
-The Alternative Daily
