Generally, there is still a lack of information about ethylene and how this natural hormone affects the ripening of fruits and vegetables. "Even in the fruit and vegetable sector, I find warehouses with cold stores containing all kinds of fruits and vegetables mixed together," says Juan Luís Pedro, director of the R&D department at Keepfresh.
Keepfresh is a company that offers solutions to protect the freshness of fruit and vegetables, thus preventing food waste. Its flagship product is their ethylene absorption sheets. These are sheets formed by two layers of food grade paper with the ethylene absorber inside. Each sheet of paper is divided into cells, with the size and format depending on the clients' requests. The idea is to cover 99% of the surface of the box and for it to be fully in contact with the vegetable.
"The absorbent sheet for industrial use has been a success in the horticultural sector over the last fifteen years. During this time, we have been improving and adapting it to the needs of the market. The latest change, made recently, was motivated by the development of fruit prices, which has led us to try cutting costs. To achieve this, we have reduced the size of the solution, maintaining the same efficiency as always, but making it more affordable in terms of price," explains Juan Luis Pedro. "It is possible to work at room temperature, protecting the fruit from volatile gases in all kinds of environments, acting as a protective coat."
This month, they have closed agreements with two distributors in Portugal and four new large packaging distributors in Spain. Besides, the Latin American markets are increasingly important, as new distributors are joining in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Mexico and Argentina.
"Our customers in Spain are shipping citrus fruits and kakis to Australia, lettuces and broccoli to Dubai, melons to Shanghai and Hong Kong or peppers to the west coast of the United States. While exporters are our biggest customers, the ones who benefit the most from this are the supermarket chains, since it extends the commercial shelf life of the products on the shelves."
The amount of ethylene absorber within the Keepfresh sheets varies depending on the product, the total volume and the distance it must travel. "We offer a custom-made product. The idea is for each customer to buy what they need based on the added value of their products and their specific needs, thus preventing money waste on their part."
In recent years, Keepfresh has developed environmental control systems for the elimination of solid and gaseous volatiles, including ethylene, alcohols and aldehydes, as well as of mould and fungi spores. The air is treated with germicides in all types of cold rooms.
"In Peru, we have obtained fantastic results with the tests carried out in table grape chambers. We have substantially reduced the amount of SO2 in the environment, which is very important to keep a safe atmosphere for the employees who access the chambers. High SO2 levels will have a very harmful impact on your health, even deadly. We have also managed to reduce the machines' energy consumption and we can guarantee a useful life of 50,000 hours for the engines and a permanent one for the stainless steel casings," says Juan Luís Pedro.
"There are many companies like us, devoted to this activity, so we are trying to stand out with something different, exploiting our own brands," he says. "This should allow us to rely more on ourselves and control the whole process more efficiently," he concludes.
For more information:
Juan Luis Pedro Sánchez
KEEPFRESH
Tel.: (+34) 918816675
direccion@keepfresh.eu
www.keepfresh.eu