The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Science (UF-IFAS) has found significantly positive results in its research testing the efficacy of Hazel’s flagship technology, Hazel 100™, on commodities in the tropical category. Based on the team’s studies, Hazel 100 can extend the shelf life of tropical fruits including tropical avocados, papayas, mangos and guavas from four days to three weeks.
Left: Hazel 100-treated papaya; right: untreated papaya.
The horticultural research team studying Hazel 100’s effect on tropicals is led by Dr. Jeffrey K Brecht and consists of Dr. Steven A. Sargent, Dr. Jonathan Crane, graduate research assistant Morgan Madison and biological scientist Moshe Doron. The team used fruit harvested from the University of Florida’s Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, FL and transported it to the Postharvest Lab at UF in Gainesville. There they studied control and Hazel 100 groups to see how the technology impacted fruit decay and shelf-life extension for the respective commodities.
The team found that Hazel 100 extended the shelf life of Maridol type papayas by four to 10 days; “Para” Florida-grown guavas by about 1 to 1.5 weeks; mangos by approximately two weeks; and tropical avocados by two to three weeks. They also found that Hazel 100 cut the decay in Maridol type papayas by 50 percent after one week of treatment.
Left: Adam Preslar; right: Morgan Madison.
“Once we understood Hazel 100 and its influence on different fruits as they ripen, we determined how to simulate storage and shipping conditions for multiple tropical fruit and figured out how to maximize Hazel and its shelf-life extension capabilities,” said Madison. “We look forward to continuing our research with Hazel Technologies and seeing what other forms of food waste prevention it creates in the future.”
“Export volumes of fresh tropical fruits have shown the fastest annual growth rate internationally in recent years,” said Adam Preslar, CTO and co-founder at Hazel Technologies. “Through the research done at University of Florida, we know Hazel will have a huge impact on the export arrivals of these fruits and can help guarantee fresher produce for consumers across the globe.”
For more information:
Hazel Technologies
Tel: +1 (559) 321-2146
media@hazeltechnologies.com
www.hazeltechnologies.com
Gloss