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Honolulu, HI October 7, 2024— Avocados in Alaska? How about a nectarine in November? The global transport and logistics industry makes both possible, delivering massive amounts of fresh produce each year across countries, climates, and continents. 59% of the global food trade occurs via sea transport, 31% on roads, 10% by rail, and 0.16% on aircraft, a marvel of modern trade and globalization.
However, 30% of all fruits and vegetables are “lost” worldwide in the post-harvest supply chain between farms and markets. Fresh produce can be lost to spoilage through oxidation, bacterial or mold growth, or bruising and lacerations during transport. Logistics have come a long way in the last century regarding shipping fruits and vegetables. Today, we transport delicate produce in chilled containers, known as “reefers,” which inhibit ripening. Yet, losing a third of all shipped produce is massive – in terms of food security, food waste, and resources lost in terms of the fertilizer and water it took to grow that produce to begin with. So, how can we reduce this huge amount of produce that is lost en route to kitchen tables?
Oceanit engineers have launched a new effort to develop novel packaging materials that can control the ripening speed of produce susceptible to spoiling, in partnership with Washington State University. The work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which is distributing $8 million to small businesses to spur innovation in agriculture, funding early or “seed” stage research.
Oceanit’s innovation is called RipeGuard, and will initially focus on climacteric fruits, varieties which ripen quickly and continue ripening even after harvest. These include fruits like bananas, tomatoes, pears, mangos, peaches, apples, and avocados, evidenced by how they change color and hardness as they continue to mature post-harvest. This ripening is largely caused by a gas they release called ethylene.
The RipeGuard packaging material being developed at Oceanit will improve quality and shelf-life by either absorbing ethylene gas or releasing inhibitors to control the ripening process and reduce food loss to spoilage. Oceanit will innovate on existing “Modified Atmosphere Packaging,” or MAP, to unlock new packaging capabilities: as ethylene is generated by the fruits contained therein, the packaging itself will capture the gas molecules, thereby limiting ripening to prevent loss and extending shelf-life.
By preserving and protecting vulnerable climacteric produce, there will be a drastic reduction in post-harvest losses, minimizing food waste associated with over-ripening and contamination in transit. This reduction in waste will have far-reaching positive impacts on food scarcity and availability for consumers, as well as on resource management and efficiency for farms. The added food security is critical, given our population growth and the estimate that demand for food will rise by 70 to 100 percent by 2050, according to the USDA.
Founded in 1985 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Oceanit is a disruptive technology company that has earned a world-class reputation for breakthrough science and disruptive innovation built upon a “Mind to Market” process of bringing new technology to market as well as core values of curiosity, collaboration, and ‘Ohana. Oceanit tackles the world’s most difficult technical problems across energy, defense, life sciences, and more. Learn more at Oceanit.com.
