Avocados with a special plant-derived coating will last longer in grocery stores across the midwest. The avocados, supplied by Apeel Sciences, naturally remain ripe for twice as long, yet spoil slowly without refrigeration and preservatives.
Apeel Sciences announced the partnership with Midwest Costco stores to offer avocados with two to three times the normal shelf life. Harps Food Stores, an Associated Wholesale Grocers chain of supermarkets in the Midwest, will also sell Apeel avocados. The agreements mark Apeel Sciences’ first partnerships with stores and retailers to battle global food waste, which amounts to USD$2.6 trillion in economic, environmental and social costs each year.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, stores and retailers waste 43 billion pounds of food, or 10 percent of the available food supply. Apeel Sciences aims to reduce food waste at the supplier, retailer, and consumer levels in their newly announced partnerships.
“We’re excited to be working with exceptional partners as they share our vision of a food system that provides better quality food for all and less waste,” says James Rogers, CEO and Founder of Apeel Sciences. “With our partners, we believe we can increase the availability and accessibility of high quality, nutritious produce while simultaneously preserving our natural resources and environment.”
The company’s organic food coating blends typically wasted plant materials such as leaves and peels into a protective spray. By adding a thin layer of the plant-derived peel to the surface of fresh produce, Apeel reinforces a plant’s own peel and slows spoilage.
Apeel Sciences, recently named one of CNBC’s Top 50 Disruptors, aims to improve the quality and lifespan of produce. By partnering with stores and retailers to supply Apeel produce, the company hopes to reduce food waste and bring high quality produce to communities that normally lack access to fresh options.