Plants naturally produce volatile compounds to protect themselves from harmful environmental conditions. The American 🇺🇸 startup has identified these compounds and developed a biomimetic solution comprising food-grade and natural stickers that producers, transporters and retailers can simply peel and apply to fresh produce packaging to double the shelf life.
Problem
Frequently overlooked in the debate about the climate crisis is the sobering fact that food waste is one of the largest contributors to climate change. If food waste was a country, it would have the third-largest carbon footprint behind China and the U.S. This is due to the fact that every year, up to 50% of the food we produce goes to waste, amounting to over $2.6 trillion in losses, including $700 and $900 billion in environmental and social costs, respectively. This is because we have an abhorrently inefficient food supply chain. Losses of fresh produce are experienced at every stage, including post-harvest handling, storage, packaging, distribution, retail, and the end-consumer stage.
Solution
Ryp Labs is on a mission to put an end to food waste. To tackle this problem head-on, the start-up developed a natural and safe formulation that can be applied to a variety of surfaces, including stickers, or the packaging material, to increase the shelf-life of fresh produce. Its food-safe, award-winning labels, for example, have been shown to double the shelf-life of the fresh produce, by simply peeling and applying them to loose produce such as pears or tomatoes, or directly to the clamshells and other containers to protect smaller fruits such as berries and grapes from premature rotting.
How it works? Over millions of years, plants have developed natural defense mechanisms through which they produce and release natural volatile compounds in the air, to protect themselves at distance from microbial pathogen infections, fungi, and pests. The scent of the lavender plant, for example, is released by the plant also to protect itself.
Ryp Labs research and identify the volatile plant-based compounds, that are (1) safe for humans, and (2) can slow down the premature rotting of fresh produce. From these compounds the startup develop proprietary formulations that are encapsulated into stickers/labels, sachets and package coatings and then applied to fresh produce packaging. It have engineered a controlled delivery system to release these bioactive formulations in the air surrounding the target produce, thus protecting them, and extending their shelf life.
 In summary, Ryp Labs developed, engineered and have started to commercialize a biomimicry safe and sustainable solution that: (1) creates a protective barrier in the air around the produce to extend the shelf life by inhibiting premature rotting without directly impacting the natural ripening process, (2) do not need to come in direct contact with the produce, and (3) can easily fit within the existing supply chain of producers and distributors with minimal disruption.
Benefits
For the consumer. Fruit and vegetables that are fresher, tastier and last longer.
For the producer, transporter or retailer. Reduce losses, increase revenues, improve brand image and reduce carbon footprint.
Business Cases
- Objective | Reduce losses: more than 60% losses on mangoes after 7 days at retail level.
- Solution | Sticker application directly on mangoes.
- KPIÂ | Reducing losses by 40% and therefore increasing profitability.
- Objective | Increase the shelf life of fresh strawberries to reduce the high percentage of losses.
- Solution | Put a sticker on inside of clamshells.
- KPIÂ | Increase the shelf life of strawberries from 2 to 4 days, resulting in fewer losses and greater customer satisfaction.
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