GOLETA, CA - Organic fresh produce requires incredible attention to detail. An organic item’s journey from field to shelf provides numerous opportunities to ensure the integrity of the product, and Apeel is one solutions provider making its mark. The company recently ran both sensory and technical studies on organic apples, the first of which was done at Washington State University’s Food Lab, which showed that Apeel positively impacts the crispness of apples.
“Through the study with Washington State University, we were able to validate that at the time in which the apples would appear in a consumer home, Apeel-protected organic apples are crisper than untreated organic apples,” Randall DuBois, Apeel’s Tree Fruit General Manager, told me. “We also independently determined a methodology to measure crispness using common quality tools, which we correlated with the results from the sensory testing that can to help us ensure this improved eating experience along with the quality and performance metrics we regularly track.”
According to Apeel, almost half of consumers say they don't purchase more apples per trip because they are worried about spoilage. Apeel plant-based protection works to eliminate the guilt of throwing away forgotten foods, giving shoppers the peace of mind that their money is not going to waste.
“Stemilt exists to delight consumers with our fruits. One example of how we are doing this on Artisan Organics™ apples is through the use of Apeel plant-based protection on all of our organic apples,” Brianna Shales, Marketing Director at Stemilt, testified. “Organics make up 11.5 percent of apple volumes and 16 percent of apple dollars nationally. We feel there is room to grow those sales, and to do that, we need to assure consumers they are going to enjoy the experience with the organic apples they purchase.”
Brianna continued, “We’ve focused on growing modern varieties organically and using tools like Apeel that are proven to keep apples crisper, longer. We didn’t have tools like this before, and Apeel helps us provide a better apple experience without sacrificing integrity of organics because it is plant-based. The organic shopper is a big produce purchaser, and we want to consistently serve them with a great apple eating experience.”
Randall explained that throughout the supply chain, evaporation causes apples to lose weight, resulting in lower margins for retailers per bulk apple sold. Apeel’s protection locks in moisture to prevent dollars’ worth of weight from evaporating off the shelf. In a four-week test with a retailer in Portland, Oregon, the mass of Apeel-protected apples were compared to untreated organic apples. The study found that during storage prior to shipment, transport and storage in store, retailers saw savings of $0.58 per 40 lb case, which equates to higher sales per lb.
In addition to reducing waste in-store, Apeel-protected produce provides shoppers with consistent, high-quality, longer-lasting fresh produce, helping retailers differentiate from the competition and build stronger shopper relationships.
“In a consumer study, Apeel found that the top-ranked measures for apple selection are exterior firmness, exterior color, and crispness. Apeel’s plant-based coating extends the shelf-life of fresh fruits and vegetables by keeping moisture in and oxygen out—the two primary causes of spoilage,” Randall continued. “By slowing the rate of water loss, apples stay crisper. Beyond keeping apples crisper for longer, Apeel-protected organic apples look fresher for longer, with fewer spots and wrinkles.”
In 2021, Apeel helped to prevent 33 million pieces of produce from going to waste at grocery stores, avoiding 7.3k metric tons of CO2-eq greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of planting 120,000 trees. In North America, Apeel offers plant-based protection for avocados, organic apples, long English cucumbers, and limes.
More is sure to come from this industry trailblazer, and ANUK will be here to report when it does.
