Shipboard Produce May Breathe New Life Before Being Scuttled

Newswise — As food scientists actively search for ways to extend the shelf life of fresh produce, the U.S. Navy is at the front of the line waiting to buy it.

Navy officials are currently in talks with a California company that produces plastic material made to regulate the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide contained in a package of fresh fruit or vegetables.

"Imagine you're out at sea for 30 days with cases of lettuce, bananas, all the fresh fruits and vegetables you'll need for an extended period of time," says Deborah Sisson, of the U.S. Department of Defense and its Combat Feeding program. "After a week, the bananas have spots. After a month, the lettuce is (rotting)," she told food scientists and professionals at the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting here.

The Navy hopes to avoid losing millions of dollars and maintain the shipboard health and nutrition of its sailors with fresh produce, possibly by utilizing this new technology for its ships' perishables. Last year alone, the Navy spent more than $26 million on fresh fruits and vegetables and lost $3 million of it to spoilage, Sisson said.

"Fresh produce is a living, [breathing] organism," said Ray Clarke, principle scientist for Apio, Inc., of Guadalupe, Calif., the company in talks with the Navy. Apio's product, BreatheWay, is said to extend the shelf life of lettuce from 28 days to 42 days. Shelf life of peppers was increased by 15-25 days, and honeydew melon's shelf life increased from 24 days to 35 days.

In the product, different plastic coatings are selected depending on the type of produce placed inside. Then, as the respiration rate of the fruit or vegetables changes, permeability of the package changes.

Critics of new technologies that extend shelf life of fresh produce question whether the resulting product is still safe to eat even if it's not spoiled. They fear the technology may be keeping some micro-organisms at bay and that month-old produce may harbor other dangerous organisms. If galley staff usually throws out lettuce when it turns brown, what if it never turns brown?

Christopher Sommers, a lead scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture recognizes the importance of new packaging attaining "a spoilage target, but need to have a safety target as well."

Larry Beuchat, professor at the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety, remains skeptical of the safety of the extended shelf life produce.

"You cannot rely upon [extended shelf life packaging] to reduce pathogens on produce," he said. Clarke agreed that more testing needs to be done.

"Clearly, everything needs to be washed a second time before it's consumed," he said.

Now in its 66th year, IFT Annual Meeting + FOOD EXPO® is the world's largest annual scientific meeting and technical exposition of its kind, delivering comprehensive, cutting-edge research and opinion from food science-, technology-, marketing- and business-leaders.

Founded in 1939, and with world headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the Institute of Food Technologists is a not-for-profit international scientific society with 22,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in industry, academia and government. As the society for food science and technology, IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of food issues. For more on IFT, see http://www.ift.org.