One of the world's largest companies, Tesco, has launched testing of a new edible coating for fruits and vegetables Apeel in its supermarkets. This coating was developed by the American company Apeel Sciences and consists of materials of plant origin - lipids and glycerolipids, which are found in the peel, seeds and pulp of all fruits and vegetables consumed by people.

Apeel comes in powder form and is diluted with water before application. Thanks to the versatility of Apeel, it can be applied in a variety of ways, including spraying, dipping or brushing. According to the creators, this coating is absolutely edible, has no color, taste or smell, and does not cause allergic reactions. At the same time, products with such a coating remain fresh two to three times longer than without it.

Tesco has now launched Apeel-coated lemons and oranges in 80 of its supermarkets. The purpose of testing is to determine in real conditions how the coating affects the shelf life of the goods. If good results are obtained, the possibility of further, wider use of this coating to preserve the freshness of vegetables and fruits is expected.

Recall that this is not the first innovation in this direction. We recently wrote about a similar development by the Swiss company Empa, which, with the support of Lidl Switzerland, developed a pomace-based coating for fruits and vegetables. It seems that the new legislation and the desire of large companies to reduce the amount of plastic used for packaging has given a powerful impetus to the latest developments that seemed fantastic in the recent past.

The materials of the sites tescoplc.com, apeel.com were used.