Hazel Technologies Inc. announced successful pilots with tropical fruit grower-shippers Seasons Farm Fresh and AMR Agro. Following continued testing with the Hazel™ line of products, each group will further integrate Hazel Tech® into their supply chains for mango, tropical avocado, rambutan, and soursop.

According to a 2020 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the tropical fruit category is the 3rd most valuable category globally behind apples and bananas. The same report states that tropicals show the fastest average annual growth rate among all internationally traded food commodities. With such significant volume growth in the coming decade, sustainability is a key focus for tropical suppliers. Many suppliers have turned to Hazel Tech to meet their sustainability ambitions.

"In testing, we have seen Hazel Tech® extend the shelf life of tropical fruits like soursop, an extremely perishable item, by 45%. Quality improvements like this directly impact our sales while maintaining a sustainable product as nature intended,” said Gabe Bernal, General Manager at Miami, FL-based Seasons Farm Fresh. Seasons Farm Fresh, a vertically integrated grower and packer of tropical fruit, is the largest importer of soursop into the US, and will be starting their sixth consecutive season importing premium rambutan from Honduras in October.

“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. AMR, founded in 2007, distributes tropical fruits globally.

“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% by 2030 to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord,” commented Aidan Mouat, CEO, Hazel Technologies, “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.”

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