OXNARD, CA - With PMA Fresh Summit literally just days away, the excitement builds as more and more updates are unveiled—especially when Mission Produce, Hazel Technology, and sustainability are involved. The avocado experts over at Mission will be talking innovation at PMA Fresh Summit this year, divulging its latest ground-breaking solution: an exclusively marketed technology that extends the shelf-life of avocados and reduces food waste.

“Hazel Technologies designed this solution for the avocado supply chain to ensure an unprecedented avocado quality extension and an unparalleled consumer eating experience,” said CEO of Hazel Technologies Aidan Mouat.

This post-harvest product dubbed AVOLAST was designed by Hazel Technologies, a USDA-funded company that develops new technologies to extend the quality and shelf-life of fresh produce in global supply chains, stated the press release. Mission Produce and Hazel Technologies announced their partnership earlier this year.

“By integrating AVOLAST into our business, customers across the world will notice an increase in the shelf-life and quality of their avocados. No other solution can do that,” said Mission's Senior Director of Business Development Patrick Cortes. “AVOLAST makes sense because the program can be tailored to fit any of our customer’s needs and infrastructure, much like our ripe program.”

The technology is a quarter-sized, biodegradable packaging insert that successfully slows down the avocado ripening process by conditioning the atmosphere in the box to slow the fruit’s respiration rate. This is not to be confused with an ethylene scrubber. For the past year, Mission Produce’s R&D team has conducted extensive testing on this product throughout its global supply chain. Not only does the technology benefit Mission Produce’s customers, but it also serves a greater purpose: the fight against global food waste.

"Since 2018, we estimate that our technologies prevented about 130 million pounds of fresh produce from going to waste, which is equivalent to over 3,000 full truck loads,” said Mouat. "This directly translates to offsetting more than 100,000 metric tons of CO2E from food waste. As food waste and loss continues to rise, it is critical for companies like Mission Produce to play its part in reducing the amount of fruit that goes squandered.”

To learn more about this innovative, post-harvest solution, visit Mission Produce’s booth #2075 or Hazel Technologies’ booth #4806 at PMA. Stay with us at ANUK as we cover more news leading up to the event.

Mission Produce Hazel Technologies