CHICAGO, IL - Hazel Technologies continues to bring advancement to the produce industry with the use of its Hazel 100^™ solution. Recently, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Science (UF-IFAS) reported significantly positive results testing the solution’s efficiency in the tropical category, revealing that Hazel 100 can extend the shelf-life of tropical fruits anywhere from 4 days to 3 weeks.

“Export volumes of fresh tropical fruits have shown the fastest annual growth rate internationally in recent years,” commented Adam Preslar, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder at Hazel Technologies. “Through the research done at University of Florida, we know that Hazel will have a huge impact on the export arrivals of these fruits and can help guarantee fresher produce for consumers across the globe.”

The horticultural research team studying Hazel 100’s effect on tropicals is led by Dr. Jeffrey K Brecht and consists of Dr. Steven A. Sargent; Dr. Jonathan Crane; Graduate Research Assistant, Morgan Madison; and Biological Scientist, Moshe Doron, according to a press release. The team used fruit harvested from the University of Florida’s Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, Florida, studying control and Hazel 100 groups to understand how the technology impacted fruit decay and shelf-life extension for tropical fruits.

“Once we understood Hazel 100 and its influence on different fruits as they ripen, we were able to determine how to simulate storage and shipping conditions for multiple tropical fruit and figured out how to maximize Hazel and its shelf-life extension capabilities,” commented Morgan Madison, Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Florida.

As a result of the study, the team found that Hazel 100 extended the shelf-life of Maridol type papayas by 4 to 10 days, “Para” Florida-grown guavas by about 1 to 1.5 weeks, mangos by approximately 2 weeks, and tropical avocados by 2 to 3 weeks. They also found that Hazel 100 cut the decay in Maridol type papayas by 50 percent after 1 week of treatment, as explained in the release.

“We look forward to continuing our research with Hazel Technologies and seeing what other forms of food waste prevention they create in the future,” commented Madison.

Quality is a key component of providing the best fresh produce out there, and Hazel Technologies is wielding its innovative solutions to help suppliers to just that.

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