This Company Is On a Mission to Fight Food Waste

Apeel Sciences is a company on a mission to fight food waste and build a sustainable global food supply chain. The goal is to help farmers, distributors, and retailers produce top quality products that stay fresh longer, reducing food waste, without the use of harmful chemicals.

The company’s innovative products are made from edible plant extracts that exist in the peels, seeds and pulp of fruits and vegetables. The  plant-based products keep moisture in and oxygen out, dramatically slowing the rate that fresh produce decays and keeping produce fresh two to three times longer, even without the use of refrigeration.   

James Rogers, founder & CEO of Apeel told OPN, “At the highest level we use food to preserve food- it sounds simple but what that means is we take discarded plant materials - things left behind from processing- like wine pressings- and we take those leftover materials and extract the lipids and glycerolipids. We create formulations specifically tailored for different types of fresh produce.”

Their products come in powder form like a sugar packet or a brick of flour to make it easily transportable. It’s mixed with water and sprayed onto the surface of fresh produce and as it dries it leaves an imperceptible barrier of plant material. This barrier allows the fruit to continue to breathe but allows the fruit to last 2-3 times longer without the use of refrigeration.

By specifically formulating and targeting different items they can modulate the respiration rate unique to each item. Apeel products create an imperceptible barrier that develops a microclimate outside the skin that slows the respiration rate - the result is life extension whether it’s refrigerated or not.

“The products have been well received because most postharvest technologies are only effective during transportation and storage,” Rogers said.  “Once fresh produce is harvested it has a limited amount of breathe in it before it expires. You put into a refrigerated tractor where you are able to control the temperature and humidity.  But once the container is received and opened you lose those optimal storage conditions. A well-lit warm retail store is directly at odds with the optimal preservation conditions.”   

Appel offers exciting solutions to optimize harvest decisions. In order to combat spoilage, produce is often harvested prematurely. Much of it isn’t picked to eat, it’s picked to ship and it continues to ripen throughout the supply chain.

“Growers can now use our product to slow down the maturation rate and pick closer to peak maturity, “ Rogers said. “ This delivers a better quality more flavorful product that maintains its fresh quality much longer. We feel our products offer the greatest advantage to the organic community because they don’t always have the products they need to preserve. We are providing a new tool in the arsenal of the organic grower.”  

The company has been in R&D mode for the past five years and now is rolling out its products with fresh food producers, suppliers and retailers. Today in their 108,000 square foot  Santa Barbara, CA facility, they employ 85 people. Two-thirds of them are scientists and engineers and a full one-third are PHD scientists.  

Rogers said “We started the company six years ago with just an idea on a napkin. We took innovations from other fields of science and applied them to the post harvest preservation of fresh produce. We had fresh eyes and created value with a sustainable innovation.”

Their products are becoming available now and the company’s initial products roll out is focused on avocado and citrus categories.  They have dozens of different formulations in the works for additional fresh produce items.  

Rogers concluded, “We have an opportunity to improve the livelihood for growers, reduce food waste losses and protect our natural resources. It’s been a real joy tackling these issues.”