Tropical Exporters Announce Successful Pilots of Hazel Tech®
CHICAGO, IL - Hazel Technology seems to be redefining the term “pilot.” Normally a word to indicate testing, it is recently more associated with a slew of successes for the technology developer, which recently announced another win for its Hazel™ line of products. Tropical fruit grower-shippers Seasons Farm Fresh and AMR Agro are touting triumph from their tests with their supply chains for mango, tropical avocado, rambutan, and soursop.
"Hazel Technologies was founded in 2015. That same year, the United States Department of Agriculture issued its first-ever mandate that we must reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030 to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord," Aidan Mouat, Chief Executive Officer for Hazel Technologies, shared. "Given the high projected growth of tropical fruit production cultivated to feed a growing global population in the next decade, developing more waste-reducing technologies for the tropical fruit supply chain is a top priority."
A 2020 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations strongly backs Mouat.
The report stated the tropical fruit category is the third most valuable category globally, trailing only apples and bananas.
"In testing, we have seen Hazel Tech extend the shelf-life of tropical fruits like soursop, an extremely perishable item, by 45 percent. Quality improvements like this directly impact our sales while maintaining a sustainable product as nature intended,” said Gabe Bernal, General Manager at Seasons Farm Fresh, a vertically integrated grower and packer of tropical fruit and one of the largest importers of soursop in the U.S.
According to a press release, the same report on tropical fruits shows the category is among the fastest in terms of average annual growth rate among all internationally traded food commodities.
"We observed that Hazel helps ensure consistent, quality arrivals for our growing tropical avocado freight programs, with 10 days of additional shelf-life," said Raul Reyes, Co-Owner of Dominican Republic-based AMR Agro, a global distributor founded in 2007.
Sustainability remains a key focus for tropical suppliers, with increasing importance as the category continues to climb on a national and global scale.
In turn, it seems Hazel Tech is finding a pattern to apply to the highly perishable that continues to turn pilots into successes. As it continues to venture into new territories, AndNowUKnow will report.
