The fungus that delays food spoilage and prolongs its duration up to four months

2024-01-28 00:49:07

Updated Sunday, January 28, 2024 – 01:49

Food spoilage is a problem that we have had for years. To give an example, in 2020 alone, more than 1 billion kilos of food were thrown into the trash. That is, each person shed an average of 31 kilos, which, translated into figures, meant a loss of about 250 euros per head, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

For this same reason, on June 7, 2022, the Government approved the draft Law on the Prevention of Food Losses and Waste, referring to the first regulation of this type that occurs in Spain. However, this law was never passed due to early elections, so it is still necessary to combat this problem.

With the aim of combating and improving this situation, Everfresh, a system developed in Seville by Camila Puentes in Seville and which was a finalist in the NTT Data eAwards Spain 2023, has managed to prolong the durability of plant foods. How has he achieved it? It combines a fungus called Trichoderma harzinum with cold plasma technology, which eliminates all types of live microorganisms present in the plant. In this way, it is possible to extend the useful life of the products from four weeks to four months, although at the moment it is in the experimental phase.

According to Camila Puentes, specialist in Food & Product Design, Everfresh has been designed with the intention of contributing to “reducing environmental pollution”, as well as the expense of those who waste food in restaurants, homes, and other types of establishments. So far, since it has not yet been released on the market as such, they have spoken with Plat Institute, a gastronomic innovation laboratory, to begin testing the system in a kitchen of the future project that they are carrying out from the laboratory.

A nature-based solution

As Puentes explains to this newspaper, she and her colleagues decided to “use nature itself and its microorganisms to extend the useful life of food.” Its operation, according to the project leader, is based on a conservation system that is made up of three interconnected parts.

A capsule works as a kind of container or storage for fresh products. It would be something like the refrigerator. This, in turn, is capable of differentiating between foods that have been introduced before or after.

The second element is the disperser, a spray mechanism that contains the microfungus Trichoderma Harzianum. This fungus has the ability to protect food from the invasion of harmful molds, which is why its duration in good condition is increased.

Cold plasma is the third part. It is integrated into the capsule and corresponds to a technique that uses ionized nitrogen to disinfect food before consumption. In this way, cold plasma is capable of eliminating live microorganisms present in vegetables, adding an additional layer of safety for consumption.

With the implementation of these three elements, Puentes assures that the “goal is that the 49.33% of restaurants that lack a clear strategy to manage their waste, have the opportunity to reduce it and be pioneers in the use of technologies.” symbiotic solutions to improve their business models. That is, the fungus allows the restoration to prolong the life of your fresh foods by up to four months.