U.S. company Purfresh plans to start trial shipments of a new multifaceted fruit enhancement technology that controls the ozone, carbon dioxide, oxygen and ethylene in containers, combined with commodity temperature tracking.

CEO Brian Westcott told www.freshfruitportal.com the Total Active Environment technology was an extension of a base product that has been in use for many years, but the previous product was mainly focused on temperature and ozone levels.

"A big element of what we have now is carbon dioxide. Most of our competitors focus on CO2 control and we now have a combination.

"The key is that we can do the two-way temperature control so we can hold much tighter tolerances on temperature. We’re actually measuring the temperature of the commodity, versus just the air temperature, and that allows us to hold the temperature much closer.

"For example, if you can hold pineapples to a 1°C tighter temperature to the optimal, you can get two to four days longer shelf life on that pineapple."

He said by covering all the critical elements, this new technology could improve shelf life and quality, while the tracking system would help respond to hiccups that may occur in transit.

"For instance, let’s say you’re have Chilean kiwifruit and you’re going through the Panama Canal, and unfortunately sometimes the cargo goes off power during the transit across the canal; they turn off the power to save money, the temperature rises and maybe the CO2 diminishes.

"What we would do is detect that power off, we might notify the carrier, or we might adjust the recipe.

"For instance, ozone is a disinfectant and at an elevated temperature with no ozone for six hours, we might know there’s be an elevated growth rate for a pathogen like botrytis, so we might adjust to a higher level of ozone to what is normal for six hours to knock down that growth."

He said trials would likely begin in the second quarter with grower partners, followed by commercial shipments in the third quarter.

"We have the product built now and we’re working towards the tests with our partners in a few months.

"We’re going to work with some blueberry, banana, pineapple and potentially grape growers as our first few commodities."

He said the level of incremental benefit from the Total Active Environment varied depending on the product. Potatoes and onions might not need the extra benefit of carbon dioxide management, but fruits like bananas, blueberries, stonefruit and kiwifruit certainly could.

To illustrate his point, the CEO highlighted an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada study that showed the importance of managing blueberries with several factors.

"It found if you use the combination of ozone, CO2 and of course temperature management, that after four weeks in a simulated lab this resulted in 4-7% more marketable fruit than just the CO2 by itself."

www.freshfruitportal.com