Your guacamole will be fresher this weekend thanks to food tech



A tiny packet filled with big technology is helping reduce food waste by keeping fruit and veggies fresher, longer!

Imagine bananas staying at the peak of ripeness for 10 to 14 days or having an extra week to eat fresh peaches and plums!

What about good old fashioned avocados, how about an extra 4 days to turn them into guacamole?

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Usually when you buy fruits and vegetables, you have a small window where it’s perfect to eat and after that things go downhill fast.



Now, thanks to some smart chemists, fresh food can last longer than ever!

Aidan Mouat is CEO of Hazel Technologies and they’re developing ways to keep foods fresher, longer.

"We’re hoping to be able to reduce food waste due to spoilage down to nothing," said Mouat.


It’s all thanks to this tiny packet (pictured above), it kind of looks like one of those moisture absorbing packets you might find in a shoe box, but this one has the ability to slow the aging process of fruits and veggies.

"That sachet continuously treats the atmosphere around the produce and actually enables us to control the metabolism of the produce," explained Mouat.

Already, the world’s biggest avocado company, Mission Produce, is using them. The packets emit a chemical that counteracts the ripening gases normally emitted by fruit.


One packet is enough for 50 pounds and there's no need for sprays or dips. The contents inside the packet don't even touch the produce.

"All the things that you want to be eating, there’s more of them in a well preserved piece of produce than there is in a poorly preserved piece of produce," said Mouat.

Not to mention less frustration, now you have a longer window to consume fresh fruits and veggies at home which means less items tossed in the trash!

"Not only are they getting 72 to 96 hours more shelf life out of it, but the eating experience itself is improved," said Mouat.

So go ahead, make that guacamole and enjoy it while it lasts!

Already the packets have saved 85 million pounds of fresh produce from the trash and this is just the beginning Hazel hopes to extend its tech to meats and baked goods.

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