Mar 20, 2020
An Israeli company Sufresca, has developed an edible coatings for agro products that will eradicate plastic packaging completely and reduce food loss and waste in fresh farm produce. The tailor-made edible invention arrive with easily implemented application techniques and yet maintain a fresh appearance and perfect taste “as if was just harvested,” the company hypes. This innovation comes in the wake while the packaging industry is still toying with ideas of packaging-free solutions to the Food & Beverage industry.
“Our mission is to set new market standards for fresh produce handling, where cost-effective, eco-friendly and green coating solutions are available for all fruits and vegetables, and later on for all food commodities, for which plastic is currently used to extend shelf-life,” tells Efrat Boker Ferri, CEO of Sufresca.
Sufresca is currently working on developing and expanding its operation to include all food perishables. The tested solutions after experimentations have already been found for peppers and garlic, but finalized products for tomatoes and cucumbers are still in progress.
The edible coatings are made of water, glazing agents, emulsifiers, stabilizers and acidity regulators that can be stored at ambient temperatures and do not require dilution with an extend shelf-life up to six months. “All ingredients used in our coatings are recognized by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as food additives (E Number) and by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS),” Boker Ferri explains.
Sufresca’s technology can provide non-toxic, biodegradable coatings that are less than 0.1 mm thick and are invisible, unnoticeable, odorless and tasteless. Coating thickness depends on the application technique, considering the physical structure and roughness of the fruit or vegetable surface as well as the chemical wetting and better adherence to the cuticle of the coated commodity, she continued.