Chefs and restaurateurs are always on the keen lookout for expiration dates on food. That’s because serving bad food is tantamount to career suicide. Food must always be kept fresh. However, those who keep large numbers of inventory in their cupboard may find this to be quite challenging.
Some of the professionals who handle a lot of perishables in their line of work have turned to preservatives for help. Unfortunately, these change the taste or eventually sacrifice the quality. They’ve been searching for the best way to preserve food, and it looks like help may not be available.
The good news is that a food-tech startup company found in upstate New York may have finally discovered and developed technology to preserve food without the need for refrigeration. They were able to extend the lifespan of their stocks for months beyond when it would normally spoil. The best part is that they didn’t make use of artificial preservatives.
The new technology is well poised in the market. After all, it is able to cut down on the millions of tons of food waste happening worldwide. More importantly, it also has the potential to transform agriculture in developing countries. These suppliers often have to depend on refrigerated shipping containers and trains where the services are oftentimes rare or expensive.
Have you ever wondered why the world doesn’t devote more cropland to growing fruits and vegetables instead of grain? Fruits and vegetables are so much more nutritious. And while these are packed with vitamins and minerals that promote health, the spoilage also becomes a problem. The suppliers are in such a conundrum but there was nothing much they could do. This issue costs up to $14 billion in waste, especially in India alone.
As soon as plant harvest is reaped, the clock begins to tick. Wait too long and you’ll see that the product has been ridden with problems such as oxygen and bacterial damage. Eventually, the product is rendered inedible and unfit for retailing.
The good news is that Farther Farms’ proprietary CO2 pasteurization technology could be the simple fix that the world needs. This innovative technology has the ability to prolong packaged foods’ shelf life in room temperature for more than 90 days.
The company first demonstrated the technology using French fries. These normally need to be frozen in order to survive trips between production facilities and supermarkets. More importantly, fries can’t be pasteurized like other goods. If they are rapidly heated with steam, these would turn into mush, which makes them unfit for consumption.
Instead of heating the food, Farther Farms puts them into special packaging. The container is filled with supercritical CO2. This component prevents damage from oxidation as well as suffocates bacteria that oftentimes thrives in thawing products.
Co-founder of this amazing Farther Farms technology is Vipul Saran. He grew up in India in a farming family. He is also a grad student at Cornell University. Because of his past experience, he is extremely familiar with the costs and difficulties of managing to move agricultural products from one point to another. In his case potatoes, he knew the challenges of moving perishable items from farms into towns and cities. He had to find ways to get to the suppliers before they spoiled. In his interest to save producers, he did his thorough research on the development of the said technology.
Saran shares to Adele Peters at Fast Company, “The whole goal was, basically, how can we look into new, innovative food processing technologies that can allow us to create value-added food products from these perishable food products, which avoids the need and the dependency as much as possible on refrigeration and freezing?”
Instead of packaging apples or potatoes in a plastic bag, the Farther Farms technology is most suitable for value-added food products. This is so because not only because they find the need to package items in a certain way, but also because they help farmers earn more money. For instance, this is perfect for businesses that need to turn tomatoes into salsa.
Instead of transporting the food via refrigerated box car or shipping container, farms can now allow them to bypass the frozen supply chain and ship them at any temperature. The current methods being used are not only expensive, but limited. They find it difficult to reach to some countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. The new technology gives them a farther reach, thereby allowing farmers and food producers of all kinds to reach the maximum number of customers and markets.
According to Saran, “If you can begin producing internationally and create markets for value-added food products that don’t currently exist, you’re going to do the most to help farmers.”
Fact is, the United States throws out 30 million tons of food in a year. Many have also witnessed pulling out a bag of freezer-burned food from the fridge that they had missed. As you can see, this new method would be very ideal for family meal planning as well.
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