Here's something to chew on: Americans waste approximately 290 pounds of food each year. That's 20 percent of all the food on our plate - enough to feed 2 billion people.
Globally, that number goes over 1.3 billion tons of food every year. Countries like South Korea, however, is getting ahead of the problem and setting an example for the world to follow by recycling 95 percent of its food waste. If that seems like a lofty goal, that's fine. The World Economic Forum has listed a dozen other ways in which technology can help food systems avoid wastage. Some of these measures include consumption of alternative proteins, deploying food-sensing technologies for food safety and traceability and IoT deployment for supply-chain transparency.
Somerville-based startup Cambridge Crops has another solution to add to the list: A natural and edible coating made of protein that postpones decay of perishable food.
The edible biopolymer coating created by Cambridge Crops, a company based in Greentown Labs. The startup is a collaboration between MIT and Tufts University and its product can postpone decay of perishable foods like fruits, vegetables and meat by reducing contact with gases and water vapor, thereby slowing down oxidation and water loss.
It works like this: The patented, all-natural, water-based solution is made of silk fibroin, a protein. The coating, which creates an invisible barrier that regulates the exchange of oxygen, water vapor and slows down microbial growth. The company will integrate its product at the production and processing level post-harvest.
What can this be applied to? Everything from fresh and cut produce to meat and even flowers.
Adam Behrens, co-founder and CEO of the company, explained that the glossy apples we see have a shelf life of two weeks once they hit supermarket shelves. Cambridge Crops' edible coating can extend its shelf life by another two weeks.
When I asked Behrens about the wax coat that typically provides apples' shine, he explained: "Oh, that's just for aesthetics, mostly. Our product is a higher-performing alternative."
The company, founded in 2016, currently runs paid pilots with producers. It plans to have an FDA-approved commercial product by the end of 2020.
The company closed a pre-seed round of $1.3 million led by MIT Engine, with participation from Closed Loop Ventures and Fink Family Foundation. The company counts the Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize for startups that it won in 2017 among its accolades.
Berhens noted that his staff of eight employees will spend 2019 getting the regulatory processes underway, scaling up production and forming partnerships with producers, processors and retailers.
