Spain's Bio2Coat is attacking the twin problems of food waste and plastic waste coming from packaging materials. The company has developed a 100% natural, edible coating that extends the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables and a 100% natural, edible packaging material that replaces single-use plastic.
According to the Barcelona-based start-up, created by researchers at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, extensive trials have shown its edible coating reduces losses and rejection rates in fruit and vegetable production and keeps produce fresh, tasty, and healthy for longer. It preserves the smoothness, moisture, and flavor of each product and keeps them away from microorganisms, preventing the fruit from spoiling before consuming it.
The Bio2Coat edible coating improves the visual appearance, prevents fungal attacks, and preserves nutritional value for consumers. And being natural, odorless, and tasteless, the start-up claims the solution is more acceptable to consumers than other coatings in the market that use food additives such as E904 used for food preservation and presentation.
"People won't buy fewer fruits and vegetables if they last longer. No, they will buy more," explained Bio2Coat co-founder Farayde Matta Fakhouri. "Consumers want this solution. One of the reasons they don't buy all the fruit and vegetables they want is because of the short shelf life."
Source: foodnavigator.com