Green Post-Harvest Treatment

Pimi Agro CleanTech, Inc., Israeli developer and marketer of environmentally friendly alternative solutions for post-harvest treatment of fruits and vegetables, announced its first commercial order for SweetGuard™ to a U.S. customer, which will utilize SweetGuard™ in the post-harvest treatment of sweet potatoes. SweetGuard™ enhances the sweet potatoes’ bright appearance due to its cleaning effects.

This milestone first order follows two years of development work and extensive customer engagement, resulting in an environmentally friendly product that effectively improves the appearance and color of sweet potatoes. SweetGuard has the added benefit of also preventing decay of sweet potatoes which may occur during storage and distribution.

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA, in 2010 the United States produced approximately 1.1 million tons of sweet potatoes, with a production value of $478 million. Pimi’s proprietary and green CleanTech approach also means that there is less exposure to harmful chemicals which is good news for consumers. Pimi successfully markets SweetGuard in Spain and in Israel and negotiates further orders of SweetGuard with several U.S. sweet potato packers.

In January-February 2013, Pimi performed a large-scale commercial trial of CitruWash™ treatment with Sun Pacific - one of the biggest suppliers of fruits and vegetables in the United States. The trial was carried out in Sun Pacific’s citrus packing house in Maricopa, CA, one of the biggest Clementine packing houses in the U.S. The purpose of the trial was to demonstrate that CitruWash™ was more effective at reducing micro flora load on citrus surface. The trial was successful and clearly indicated significant advantages of utilizing CitruWash™ on citrus fruits in comparison with other current treatments and materials.

CitruWash is formulated to clean citrus on packing lines and is intended to replace soap and chlorine that are currently used as cleansers in citrus packing lines, prior to fungicide treatment. Good cleaning practice reduces the surface dirt and soil and by that reduces micro flora load prior to waxing the fruits with fungicides that prevent mold contamination during their storage, transportation and shelf life.

The results of this trial could lead to wide commercial adoption and implementation of CitruWash by leading U.S. citrus packers.

Pimi Agro CleanTech was established in 2004, and it focuses on developing environmentally friendly solutions for extending storability and shelf life of vegetables and fruits. Pimi’s technology platform is based on a unique formulation of environmentally friendly Stabilized Hydrogen Peroxide (STHP), which decomposes into oxygen and water. As part of a sustainable agriculture platform, STHP products have worldwide patent protection and provide a cost-effective solution for growers and consumers who want to reduce residue chemicals in their fruits and vegetables.

Source: BusinessWire