The ground-breaking technology that keeps avocados ripe for longer

How to ripen an avocado
Breakthrough technology by a US company makes avocados more environmentally-friendly and allows them to stay ripe for longer.

Apeel Sciences has developed a plant-based, spray-on coating which will keep avocados ripe for four to six days.

The edible coating is flavourless, odourless and colourless, and also helps to cut down on plastic packaging.

The product launched in the US last year, and now the new-and-improved avocados have hit supermarket shelves in Denmark and Germany this week.

The UK is set to follow suit, with supermarket chain Asda currently testing the product and expected to start consumer trials next year.

Since the launch of the technology in the US, it has helped to more than halve supermarkets’ waste of avocados.

The coating decelerates the rotting and drying process of the fruit by slowing down the rate at which water escapes and at which oxygen is absorbed.

The formulation can be modified for other fruit and vegetable items such as strawberries, mangoes, bananas, apples, citrus fruits, and asparagus.

Apeel developed the technology to reduce the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables being thrown out by retailers and consumers because of spoilage.

The combined cost of the social, economic and environmental impact of global food waste is $2.5 trillion a year, according to the United Nations.

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