The Internet has many intelligent people showing us how to keep fruits and vegetables fresh for a longer period.
Whether we follow the tricks and ideas depends on us. But if we do not care about food waste, we may be part of a problem that cost the world a whopping US$2.6 trillion annually.
This includes USD 700 billion of environmental costs and USD 900 billion of social costs. This leaves the financial costs of food wastage to a substantial amount of about USD 1 trillion each year.
To get an idea of how much is wasted, see this slide show:
WHAT $1 TRILLION WOULD BUY (this is from 2011)
We are wasting food at a rate that is unimaginable. If we are throwing food, we are doing a disservice to the planet.
And one company came up with an innovative idea on how to protect produce by slowing spoilage-causing water loss and oxidation, keeping it fresh twice as long.
The company, Apeel, is making waves in developed nations.
SEE WHAT US$ 1.2 TRILLION CAN BUY IN 2020!
Available for organic and conventionally grown produce, Apeel is boasted as the only proven end-to-end solution for freshness.
“Perishability is so fundamental to the food system it’s almost unchallenged,” James Rogers, founder and CEO of Apeel, told The Spoon.
We are living in the age of innovations and greater modernisation. But it is also an age of imagination. It will be great if we could all follow the examples given by Apeel.
The company makes an edible coating for fruits and vegetables that extends their shelf life, in some cases by weeks.
Apeel uses materials that exist in the peels, seeds, and pulp of all fruits and vegetables.
What it does is to create a protective extra peel that seals moisture in and keeps oxygen out – and that is the answer!
That means the produce treated by Apeel stays fresh, nutritious, and delicious twice as long, says the companywebsite.
It also means less produce goes to waste throughout the supply chain.
Less waste for means less waste for the planet and a more abundant future for everyone, says Apeel.