An Israeli startup called Sufresca has developed a new natural alternative to artificial preservatives that help maintain the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. The product is essentially a spray that allows adds weeks to the life of products and in some cases, up to six months. In the US alone, households throughout over 30% of the food they buy; despite that most supermarket fruit and vegetables are either sprayed with a preserving wax or wrapped in clear plastic.
The new product is designed to replace both the wax coating and plastic wrappers that are used worldwide and cut down both on disposable packaging and on food waste. “We develop edible coatings for fruits and vegetables to prolong their shelf life,” Tal Marmur Sirota, VP of R&D at the Sufresca told reports at NOCamels.
Israeli startup Sufresca has developed a natural spray that allows the produce to breathe and add weeks to its life https://t.co/u2MUkO5UM1 via @debugliesnews #Health #healthcare #healthylifestyle #healthyLife #COVIDー19 #coronavirus #Coronavid19 #COVID19Pandemic
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“Our two main aims are to reduce the massive food waste, and reduce the use of plastic, which is currently the most popular solution to preserve fresh fruits and vegetables.” Produce sprayed with the product can last days longer at room temperature and several weeks longer in the fridge.
The coating which is made out of natural ingredients, like fatty acids and polysaccharides, leaves not taste or smell and always helps fruit and vegetables preserve their nutrients after they’re harvested and often lose much of their nutritional value.
#Foodtech startup Sufresca helps produce last longer with its invisible, edible coatings which protect fruits and vegetables. This cuts down on food waste AND plastic packaging.
— OurCrowd (@OurCrowd) June 15, 2022
Learn more: https://t.co/QvZvVZt09T pic.twitter.com/iRiYn3IeOK
“Imagine our solution is like a net: the produce still has holes between the molecules that give it the ability to breathe,” Efrat Boker Ferri, Co-founder, and CEO added. “We can adjust the solution for each kind of produce. The uniqueness of our solution is that it’s natural. It works with vegetables and fruit, and the results are better than any competitor.”
The idea for the startup began as a friendly bet by Amos Nussinovitch, Sufresca’s Co-founder and a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who at the time was studying edible coatings for produce. A colleague told him that he would not be able to naturally preserve peppers that are 90% water. After 15 years of in-depth research, he proved his friend wrong and won the bet.
Sufresca highlights edible coating https://t.co/2rSbkiMEy5 pic.twitter.com/NohhGohGsa
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Sufresca is at the final stages of product preparation and will soon start selling its sprays for home use. According to all their estimates, their product is cheaper than the wax coating currently being used and can be applied in the same manner wax coatings are, which means the packers of produce can apply it using existing machinery, with no need to change any machinery.
Through its qualities of preventing the natural process of fruits losing water weight, the product will also be extremely efficient for vendors across the globe who can lose thousands of dollars annually on produce that was sent out with one weight, and received by clients with another weight being registered on the scale.
The company is hoping its solution will appeal to European distributors and US clients alike. Many EU countries have been banning the use of plastic packaging for numerous types of fruits and vegetables, most recently France banned the use of most plastic packaging for produce.
