Avocados with high-tech edible coating doubling shelf life go on sale in EU

Sustainability

Avocados treated with a high-tech edible coating which doubles their shelf life and does away with the need for plastic wrapping will go on sale across Europe this week.

Apeel Sciences’ game-changing technology coats fruit and vegetables with a tasteless spray-on layer which creates “an optimised microclimate that can double the shelf life” of produce and has been found to reduce supermarket waste by more than half.

While US supermarkets have been utilising the technology since last year, it is set to be rolled out in the EU for the first time this week after being approved by the European Commission in June.

Avocados coated with the spray will go on sale in large German and Dutch supermarket chains in the coming days, but here in the UK Asda says it plans to begin consumer trials in 2020.

READ MORE: Morrisons becomes first supermarket to offer unsold food with Too Good To Go app

This comes after Asda, the UK’s third largest grocer, completed successful trials with mandarins and cucumbers this autumn finding it could do away with plastic wrapping altogether.

“We’re always looking at how we can reduce food waste at every stage in our supply chain,” Asda’s produce director Kevin Patel said.

“Having conducted an initial trial of the Apeel product earlier this year, we are currently gathering the trial results and agreeing next steps”.

The UK’s newly appointed food waste tsar Ben Elliot added: “The amount of food waste around the world and specifically in the UK is staggering.

“It’s estimated that 10 million tonnes of food are wasted within UK households, hospitality, retail and wholesale sectors. It’s crucial to push supermarkets to do more to fight this growing problem.”

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