Today up to a third of all food produced—and almost the 50% of fruits and vegetables (F&V)—perishes before being used with a consequent economic and environmental cost of $1.7 trillion.
Up to 40% of all F&V produced are lost at postharvest stages, during handling, storage and distribution. Among causes, food spoilage due to fungal pathogens (molds) leads to substantial food waste and an estimated $60 billion of economic losses for producers, retailers and consumers.
Traditional control of fungal infection relies on preharvest (field) application of synthetic fungicides, but their use is being progressively banned and efficient natural alternatives are lacking on the market.
Moving from this scenario, AgroSustain has identified and patented more than 60 antifungal plant-derived compounds, getting to the formula of a new generation of highly-efficient and cost-effective natural fungicides. Our first product, AgroShelf+, shows an unprecedented fungitoxic efficacy against a wide range of mainly spread fungi, thus preventing postharvest fruit spoilage and extending the F&V shelf-life by a minimum of 7 days. This will allow food retailers and distributors using AgroShelf+ to greatly reduce their food loss costs and improving food quality for consumers.
After the successful outcomes of the feasibility study, the product development roadmap is now focused on completing the development of the marketable version of AgroShelf+, proceeding through final steps of the toxicity certification and targeting the final regulatory approval and registration of the product in 2022. The AgroSustain team undoubtedly sees a large business opportunity considering the market dimension, the global and regulative trend towards sustainable agriculture practices and food waste reduction, and the current lack of proper solutions addressing it.
Moreover, extensive pilot trials will be carried out with large companies producing and distributing fresh F&V worldwide (Phase 2), thus paving the way to the full market entry in 2022, by targeting the exotic fruits segment first, and then scaling up the business to other crops.
