Last week at Fruit Logistica 'It’s Fresh' launched their 2nd generation ethylene moderating technology to extend the peak ripeness window and quality of fresh produce, a new brand RYPEN has been created for this new tech.
“Ethylene is a fundamental problem in the fresh produce industry,” explains Tristan Kaye, Business Development Director at It’s Fresh. “Traditionally used ethylene control products can either block the ethylene receptors in produce, preventing the development of the fruit’s full flavour potential, or it’s highly indiscriminate and inconsistent across the shipping container, meaning fruit arrives at port with a wide range of ripeness levels. The It’s Fresh RYPEN technology captures the ethylene immediately adjacent to the produce its protecting, slowing the ripening process in a controlled and consistent way giving a longer shelf life, less wastage and better tasting fruit.
“Our new technology is highly effective, in fact it has performance levels up to 10x the first generation technology that It’s Fresh made available previously. Additionally, it’s food-contact safe and can even be used with organic produce. The technology comes in various forms - it can be added by growers / packers, as a small sheet of paper, directly into the box, or it can be incorporated into films to laminate to absorbent pads for berries and cut fruit, or incorporated into the polymer structure of plastic bags to extend shelf life and quality of produce that’s stored or shipped in bags. Excitingly, the RYPEN technology can go all the way through to the consumer, providing ethylene protection through storage, shipping and retail applications.”
“Consumers also want great tasting produce, so we’re seeing some areas of the industry reduce its reliance on legacy ethylene control methods that impact taste and texture. Our new RYPEN technology is a great alternative to traditional products which are on the market today – we still give growers confidence that their produce is being protected during long-transit shipping, but without impacting the consumer’s eating experience.”
It’s Fresh’s new RYPEN tech is already being used in several countries around the world. They also now have teams on the ground in Chile, South Africa, Spain, and the UK to work directly with customers on their specific transit routes and cultivars.
“We are working with growers of berries, grapes, stone fruit, cherries, avocados to name a few and also with retailers. The extension of shelf life depends on the product but we have seen from trials on raspberries at least 2-3 days more, sometimes as much as six days. The results on fruit in transit are influenced by many other variables, but as an example we had stone fruit from South Africa arrive into the UK only a fortnight ago with pressures 70% higher for fruit protected by RYPEN, compared to fruit that wasn’t. On another shipment, Maluma Hass avocados – again from South Africa into the UK – protected by RYPEN had twice as much fruit over the critical 13kg pressure target. Almost 100% of the fruit was greater than 13kg pressure, while only 48% of the non-protected fruit was higher than 13kg. ”
Increasingly, we are seeing many more issues arising for exporters shipping fruit across the world, extended delays have become much more common and with the situations in the Red Sea and Panama canal, produce can be experiencing increased transit time of two weeks or more.
“We have a couple of big groups working with us who have now mandated the use of RYPEN in all shipments as an insurance against unforeseen delays and likely longer transit times. These supply chain issues are costing growers and exporters real money, with quality suffering at destination. The RYPEN products are helping to reduce that uncertainty by extending the peak ripeness windows.”
For more information:
Tristan Kaye
RYPEN
Tel: +44 7823 403408
Tristan.Kaye@itsfresh.com
www.itsfresh.com