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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Stix Fresh

Produce Grower Houweling’s Group Partners With Apeel to Ditch Plastic-Wrapped Cucumbers

Greenhouse vegetable grower Houweling’s Group announced this week it has partnered with Apeel to launch its plastic-free cucumbers at select Walmart locations, according to a press release sent to The Spoon.

Cucumbers very often land on grocery store shelves shrink-wrapped in plastic. This is done to protect the skin, which on a variety like an English cucumber, is especially thin. The plastic wrapping also extends the shelf life of the cucumber once it’s in your fridge.

Apeel, which raised $250 million in May of this year, is in the business of extending produce shelf life without the need for extra packaging materials. The company makes an edible “peel” that can provide the protection and shelf-life extension of plastic. It does this with a foodsafe powder derived from plant oils. When applied to produce, it creates a barrier that keeps water and oxygen out. Apeel has developed different proprietary coatings for different produce types, including apples, avocados, and, now, cucumbers. 

Apeel is one of several companies working to make produce last longer. It’s most notable counterparts right now are Stix Fresh, which makes a sticker that can extend produce shelf life by two weeks when placed on the fruit or vegetable, and Hazel Technologies, whose packaging inserts for bulk fruit and vegetable boxes slow ripening. Apeel’s most obviously parallel competitor is Sufresca, a company that also makes an edible coating for produce.

The partnership with Houweling’s Group marks the first time Apeel has used its coating technology to not just extend the life of produce but also do away with extra packaging. Houweling’s said in this week’s press release that every 500,000 cases of English cucumbers shipped with Apeel’s coating eliminates the equivalent of 820,000 single-use plastic water bottles from the supply chain. 

Apeel to Launch Its Longer-Lasting Produce in Kroger Stores Across the U.S.

Apeel Sciences, whose plant-based coatings extend the shelf life of produce, announced today it has partnered with Kroger to make its longer-lasting avocados available at over 1,100 of the grocery retailer’s stores in the U.S.

This widespread launch follows a pilot the two companies launched in 2018 in select stores around the Midwest.

Apeel was born out of a concern over the amount of food in the country that gets wasted every year due to food spoilage. Roughly 40 percent of food waste happens in the home, as anyone whose ever bought an avocado and had it go bad almost immediately knows.

To fight this, Apeel makes a plant-based powder food producers can mix with water to and coat over produce items before they get shipped out for distribution and retail. That coating creates a barrier that retains the water in side the produce and regulates how fast oxygen gets into the plant. Cloaked in this powder, produce stays fresher longer and requires less refrigeration. According to the company’s website, this has led to a more than 50 percent decrease in food waste. Bonus: the produce doesn’t have to be coated in the usual wax covering, either.

Apeel avocados are already available in the European market through a partnership with Belgium-based importer Nature’s Pride. And this past August, Apeel raised a $70 million Series C round.

The company is also using its partnership with Kroger to release two new produce items: limes and asparagus. According to the press release, those will be available at stores in Kroger’s hometown of Cincinnati this fall.

Apeel’s expansion comes at a time when more companies fighting food waste in the home are starting to emerge. What was only a few months ago a very small category in the food waste landscape now has players like Hazel Technologies, whose biodegradable packaging inserts extend the life of produce, Stix Fresh, who says it can double your avocado’s shelf life with a sticker, and Cambridge Crops, who also makes a protective layer for produce. We’ll undoubtedly be seeing many more companies come to market as consumers start to wake up to the reality that the food waste battle has to be fought first and foremost at home.

Hazel Technologies Closes $13 million Series B Round for Food Waste Tech

Chicago-based Hazel Technologies announced today it has closed a $13 million oversubscribed Series B funding round, bringing the company’s total funding to $17.8 million. The Series B round was led by Pangea Ventures and S2G Ventures, with participation from The Grantham Foundation and Asahi Kasei Ventures, and returning investors Rhapsody Venture Partners, Serra Ventures, and Valley Oak Investments, among others.

Hazel’s technology tackles food waste by increasing the shelf life of produce. The USDA-funded company makes packaging inserts in the form of sachets with 1-MCP technology that get placed in boxes of bulk produce at harvest time. The sachets (see image above) are biodegradable, 3.5cm packets that can be tossed amid the produce and emit a vapor that reduces the respiration rate of produce and increases resistance to the plant hormone ethylene. Doing so slows the decay of produce, increasing its shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

Right now, Hazel’s sachets work for for a number of produce types, among them avocados, plums, honeydew, and okra. The company has worked on over 100 pilots with large U.S. growers such as Dresick Farms International and Mission Produce.

In the realm of food waste, products that extend shelf life make up a small-but-growing area. Stix Fresh says it can double the shelf life of an avocado (among other types of produce) with a sticker that goes on the surface of the fruit and releases protective vapors. Apeel Sciences, which raised $70 million in 2018 and is backed by Bill Gates, makes a plant-based powder companies can mix with water and use to coat their produce before distribution. Cambridge Crops makes a protective layer for crops out of silk protein.

Hazel’s CEO, Aidan Mouat, told AgFunder News the company chose sachets because it’s easier to add them to existing packaging: “We decided to make a better delivery mechanism and to integrate with packaging that anyone in the world could use at any time.”

According to the press release, Hazel’s new funds will go towards growing its product line, launching new technologies, and adding new hires.