Can this gadget save your kitchen food waste?
Part of this planet's food waste problem starts at home when the beautiful organic peaches at the farmer's market look so delicious, you buy 14 of them.
Then, you promptly toss 12 of them when they turn brown and moldy within three days.
Phresh food protectors, a product that has at the time of publication raised $25,097 of its $25,000 Kickstarter goal, claims to delay fresh produce's decay by up to nearly a month with an organic powder so natural it's actually edible.
You May Also Like
Cute food protectors, shaped like apples or robots, house sachets filled with the life-prolonging powder.
Just pop the food protector in your fruit bowl, crisper drawer or anywhere you have fresh produce. The powder in the sachets purportedly delays spoilage of many fruits and vegetables (the list includes strawberries, potatoes and tomatoes and the company plans to continue testing to increase that list) for, in some cases, almost a full month.
The powder is made from microencapsulated essential oils, including mustard, oregano and lemongrass. Though there are products that work with organic spices to purportedly prevent food spoilage, professors at Ben Gurion University Arie Markus and Charles Linder headed up research and development team to create Phresh's specific powder.
The Kickstarter FAQ claims the exact blend of oils and the fact they are encapsulated in powder form creates a natural food preservative for many (though not all) fruits and vegetables.
The powder is so natural, you can even chow down on it (though that's not recommended from a flavor standpoint).
Twelve sachets are enough to last a year (founder Amit Gal-Or tells Mashable replacement packs of sachets will cost between $10-15, depending on how many are ordered at one time) and the company plans to launch internationally online. If this product works as well as it says it should, it could help make a dent in food waste without buying special food storage bags or using non food-grade preservation method. Amit tells Mashable the main difference between Phresh and competitors is, "dedication to being organic and the scope of treatment... we have been able to map out the exact bacteria, fungi, and viruses that cause spoilage in each fruit or vegetable."
The company is based in Israel, and while a $25 pledge will get you a food protector and enough sachets to last a year, a $4,000 pledge earns you a flight to the Israeli research and development headquarters, complete with hotels. Shipping for the product is projected to start August 2016.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Sarah Spigelman Richter is a contributor to Mashable's Food channel. Sarah covers everything edible, from the food industry to D.I.Y. recipes. She was previously the community manager for Tastemade NYC and her writing has been seen on The Today Show's food blog, Refinery 29, the Food Network, and Gothamist. She has also developed recipes for Tabasco and other nationally recognized brands and has blogged for 5 years at "Fritos and Foie Gras." Sarah is obsessed with "Orphan Black" and chili-cheese Fritos and is still depressed that Loehmann's closed.
