Business
New AgTech Study Reveals the Primary Impact on the Shelf-Life of Produce
New AgTech Study Reveals the Primary Impact on the Shelf-Life of Produce.
About this update from Riskon International, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n Zest \n Labs, an AgTech company modernizing the post-harvest fresh food \n supply chain to improve food safety and reduce food waste, today \n announced key findings from a recent study of strawberries harvested \n over a two-month period. The study reveals the significant impact of \n temperature and handling on fresh produce, and that the impact on shelf \n life and delivered freshness begins in the field starting when the \n produce is picked. The findings demonstrate the economic benefits of \n pallet-level freshness management for growers and retail grocers. The \n study was conducted by Zest Labs, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ecoark \n Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: ZEST), in August and September of 2017 with \n strawberries harvested in California.\n \n \n When produce is harvested, it has a definable shelf-life, also known as \n its “freshness capacity,” which can vary based on three primary factors; \n quality at harvest, harvest conditions and product temperature. In the \n Zest Labs study, the strawberries’ optimum freshness capacity was \n determined to be 14 days. Using its Zest \n Fresh™ solution, Zest Labs found that the delivered strawberries had \n shelf-life variability by as much as 12 days, representing 86 percent of \n the fruit’s total freshness capacity. Today’s fresh food supply chain \n does not account for this variability, as it typically relies on date \n labels for assessing remaining freshness. As a result, the unaccounted \n for shelf-life variability contributes to a significant portion of the $161 \n billion fresh food waste problem in the U.S. due to unanticipated \n early spoilage.\n \n \n Zest Fresh addresses this challenge by managing the variability in \n freshness capacity at the pallet level, helping growers and retailers \n reduce waste and deliver an improved customer experience. Zest Fresh \n utilizes cloud-based analytics to enable intelligent pallet-routing \n using the Zest Intelligent Pallet Routing Code (ZIPR Code). The ZIPR \n Code is dynamically calculated based on the quality at harvest, harvest \n conditions, and the complete product temperature history since harvest \n and it enables growers to identify and ship each pallet based on its \n actual remaining freshness. For example, a pallet with 12 days of \n remaining freshness could be shipped...