What has replaced cold and plastic
On August 16 at 19:00, a team from the University of British Columbia announced a technology that could impact the entire supply chain of fresh products. Specialists have created a transparent edible film from agar, tannic acid, and zinc ions. It is applied to strawberries, grapes, and apples, protecting the products from spoilage without the usual refrigeration.
Such a development is particularly interesting for the Russian market from the perspective of reducing losses on the long journey from field to shelf.
Mechanism of action and results of experiments
Agar is obtained from red seaweed. When berries are dipped in the liquid solution, the microparticles of agar themselves gather into a dense shell that prevents the product from spoiling. During tests, unprotected strawberries at room temperature began to mold after just four days and lost a third of their weight. The treated berries remained whole and firm. For grapes, the shelf life increased to two weeks, and for sliced apples — to one day.
The developers call the technology ecological. The carbon footprint of such a coating is 14% lower than that of traditional refrigeration units. “We aimed to reduce crop losses during transportation and to cut energy costs on cooling,” explained one of the project's authors, Tiansi Yang.
It was amazing to see how the cloudy liquid transforms right before your eyes into a perfectly smooth layer.
Aivy Chiu
The technology has the potential to significantly reduce the costs of storing and transporting fresh products, while also decreasing the environmental impact compared to cooling. In the face of climate change and increased attention to ecology, such solutions are becoming an important tool for sustainable food production and consumption — one of the main challenges of our time. For countries with long distances between producers and stores, this is a step towards more flexible logistics not tied to the cold chain.
While Canadian researchers offer innovative solutions for storing fresh products, other scientists are also working on environmentally friendly technologies. For example, turning plastic waste into hydrogen without prior sorting opens new horizons in waste disposal and pollution reduction. These achievements highlight the importance of finding sustainable alternatives across various industries, which becomes especially relevant in the context of global environmental challenges.