If you’ve ever brought home a carton of fresh strawberries only to find them moldy and destined for the trash a few days later, researchers may have found a simple solution: coating the fruit in a seaweed-based liquid that could keep it fresh without refrigeration.University of British Columbia (UBC) scientists developed the seaweed-derived coating with the goal of extending the shelf life of fresh produce and reducing food waste and reliance on energy-intensive refrigeration."Nearly half of all food produced in Canada is lost or wasted, costing the economy an estimated $58 billion annually," the university reported in a news release on the seaweed-coating breakthrough."Fresh fruits and vegetables are particularly vulnerable to spoilage, losing moisture and becoming susceptible to mold and bacteria during storage and transport."EATING 5 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES A DAY MAY NOT BE ENOUGH FOR HEART HEALTH, STUDY FINDSA seaweed-derived coating could offer a new way to keep fresh produce from spoiling as quickly.
(iStock)According to UBC, researchers developed the "natural, biocompatible, plant-based, and consumer-friendly" coating for post-harvest preservation by combining agar, a substance derived from red seaweed; with zinc, an essential nutrient; and tannic acid, a naturally occurring plant compound found in foods and beverages such as grapes and tea."Applied to strawberries, grapes and apple slices, the coating extended shelf life by at least two-fold," the researchers reported in their study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry."The coating acts like a very thin and invisible protective barrier," Tianxi Yang, a UBC assistant professor of food science and the study's lead author, told Fox News Digital."It helps slow moisture loss and gas exchange while also providing antibacterial and antioxidant protection, which together delay dehydration, softening, oxidation and spoilage."CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APPThe experimental coating is ...