Ever find yourself befuddled by the seemingly impossible time it takes for an avocado to transition from perfectly ripe to disgustingly rotten?
Or what about the fiddly skin that, if not careful, can find itself scattered throughout your favourite guacamole recipe?
Then do we have an a-peeling story for you.
Supermarket chains in Germany and Denmark will soon stock avocados coated with an edible plant-based coating that enables every millennials’ favourite fruit to stay fresher for longer.
Some 40% of produce currently goes to waste, often because it goes bad before we can eat it.
To cut that waste, Apeel Sciences developed an edible, plant-derived coating for fresh fruits and vegetables that helps them last longer https://t.co/RV9bCGaMbS pic.twitter.com/wGsHmEzVzR
— TIME (@TIME) November 22, 2019
According to its producer, California-based company Apeel Sciences, the ‘peel’ will slow down water loss and the oxidation process, and reportedly double shelf life.
It also lays claim to tackling the world’s chronic food waste problem.
Last year, more than one million avocados were reportedly saved from being thrown out – an amount that fills an Olympic-sized swimming pool, 288 times over.
The company, which counts the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among its investors, says it’s excited about the expansion into Europe.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to extend our impact on food waste and to bring avocados that stay fresher, longer to consumers in Europe, where avocados cross an ocean to arrive in stores,” the company wrote in a statement.
The spray-on coating has already proven a major hit in the United States.
And consumer trials in the UK for 2020 are also being workshopped, following successful tests on Peruvian mandarins and cucumbers.
