Developed against a backdrop of a world in a food waste crisis comes the food kitchen ‘superheroes’. These small robot or apple gadgets prolong the shelf life of produce with a powerful organic edible power and work just as well in the fridge as they do in fruit bowl. Phresh co-founder Amit Gal-Or speaks with www.freshfruitportal.com.

An organic cocktail of powdered essential oils packaged into a smart design is proving a winning formula for Israeli start-up Phresh.

The Food Protectors prolong the shelf life of fruit and vegetables for up to three times longer using organic technologies. Instead of spoiling in three days, strawberries can last over a week, while eggplant and potatoes will last for longer than two months.

Phresh uses microencapsulated essential oils like mustard oil, spearmint, clove and thyme, to ‘power’ the Food Protectors which are packed with a powder cocktail mix that slowly releases into the air, creating conditions to safely protect produce from spoiling.

The technology stabilizes the essential oils in air and light which are released without phytotoxicity or leaving residues, and so are a complete organic substitute to chemical alternatives.

The science behind the essential oils and microencapsulation has been developed over the last 12 years, and when sustainable-minded Gal-Or first turned onto the technology he immediately created an idea to direct it to the mass consumer market.

“"The building blocks for this started when by a scientist named Arie Markus of BotanoCap and Ben-Gurion University in Israel started to figure out ways to create organic preservations using essential oils,"” says Gal-Or.

“"He found the microencapsulation stabilizes the oils and slows down the evaporation of the oil, or in our case powder, until it becomes very efficient and instead of disappearing in days it take months.

“"This immediately clicked with me. It had to become a household product. I’'m very into sustainability and technology and I saw this; it was almost like the perfect mixture.”"

Over many years the exact causes of spoilage such as specific bacteria, fungi and viruses, for each fruit and vegetable have been mapped out.

“"We’ have created specialized powders to negate the bacteria and viruses. This solution is organic on one hand and it does no’t require putting it on the food or mixing it with water or anything like that.

“"It'’s edible, but has no taste and it’'s extremely simple to use. Right away I created the idea of an all-inclusive powder.

"“Over the last year we have worked on combining all of the specialized powders into a single cocktail powder so in the Food Protectors you have one powder in which every ingredient is targeted for specific bacteria, specific viruses, and specific fungi that causes spoilage in fruit and vegetables.”"

Phresh discovered some very encouraging results with many fresh produce categories lasting for double or triple the normal shelf-life.

“"We reach highly efficient results because we target the specific bacteria and viruses and this comes from a scientific background.

"“This became so effective and proved to be such an organic safe solution, we had to put it out there.”"

So far Phresh Food Protectors treat strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, potatoes, apples, lemons, pepper, lettuce and citrus.

A recent crowdfunding campaign raised $25,989 and Gal-Or is developing an international roll-out as well as expanding its range of produce to protect.

Eye on design

The ‘implementation’ of the prolonging powder cocktail was just as important to Gal-Or as the excellent results.

“"We took the idea of just selling the powder and really built upon it. I felt from the consumer side it’s about the design and functionality.

"“When the consumer buys something they have to feel they really elevated their lifestyle and it has to be something simplistic.

“"At the core of Phresh as a company is to combine sustainability with organic technology so people at home can experience a sustainable life that is actually better than not living a sustainable life.”"

Designed as a red or golden apple or white robot, the Food Protectors come in a range of colors with ‘'cuteness’' and ‘'style'’ in mind. Each one has a built-in LED light that changes from green to red over time to remind the consumer when to change powder.

“"We wanted to create almost a cute furniture piece for people'’s homes and went with something that is a little bit smaller a like an ornament.

"“The designs are simple and elegant and you can put it in the back of the fridge or you can put it the kitchen somewhere or in the fruit bowl, wherever.

"“It’'s a way for us to embody almost the supernatural abilities of the powder, kind of like your cute little heroes in the kitchen.”"

Initial response

Gal-Or, who is based in Israel and China, is completely overwhelmed with the initial response to the Food Protectors.

"I'm so happy, not just from the company perspective but because people really do care about this. People want to prolong their food and more than ever are aware of the issue of food waste.

"Beyond getting all the backers of the crowdfunding campaign, we constantly get approaches from distributors all over the world who want to supply in their countries.

“"When we launched the campaign we wanted to just cover the basic costs but we have received an enormous response which makes us really want to grow this and bring it out to the consumer market.”"

www.freshfruitportal.com