Food preservation 2.0

A deepdive into novel ways for food manufacturers and retailers to preserve food while keeping it tasty

It is no secret that we human beings are not very good at making good use of the natural resources we have, especially when it comes to food. According to WWF, approximately?40% of all the food grown goes uneaten, and 46% of it is lost?during the phases of handling & storage, processing & packaging and distribution & retail according to a?recent BCG study.

Nowadays many companies have realised this and have started to tackle the issue from multiple angles (we discussed the issue extensively in?this blogpost?where we gave an overview of the problem and potential solution).?

This time though, we are going to focus much more on the aspect of food preservation as a way to prevent waste.?

The tech landscape

On one hand, traditional food preservation methods used at industrial levels mainly rely on either canning/ thermal processing or via a process called HPP (high-pressure processing), having both the goal of achieving pasteurisation and therefore killing enough bacteria to make a product more or less shelf-stable. However, both aspects drastically change the sensory properties of food.

On the other hand, traditional methods such as drying or refrigerating offer an expensive and at times not effective method to prolong shelf life (especially refrigeration which has the double issue of being expensive and prone to contamination if the temperature isn’t stable).

With?35% of?consumers valuing strongly the quality of what they eat,?according to a survey from Syngenta, new methods have been developed to achieve better results.

Looking at the global FoodTech startup ecosystem, we can identify a number of companies tackling food preservation in novel ways, and separate them into 2 main clusters, ‘Chemical tech’ vs ‘Physical tech’. In other words, additives used to extend the shelf-life of food VS physical processing (therefore without any chemicals used).?

From these 2 main clusters, we can identify?2 ‘sub-clusters’ based on the type of technology being used. Here is a recap below:

In order to have a solid grasp of the segment, however, it is important to understand key figures such as funding and number of companies.

In terms of funding evolution, the space has experienced notable growth between 2018 and 2021 at a?CAGR of 62%, while being composed of only around?70 companies and totalling close to €1B raised since 2012. For comparison, for the same period, the whole AgriFoodTech grew at a CAGR of 47%?

Source:?Food Tech Data Navigator

We are now going to look at some of the companies active in each sub-cluster in order to understand the different nuances that can exist among different segments and within the same ones.

Companies examples

Biocoating

Apeel?(#4 of the 2020 FoodTech 500)

Perhaps the most notable company working on food preservation, the US-based Apeel has been at the forefront of biocoatings applied to fresh produce to extend their shelf-life. Originally?focussed on avocados, the company has recently expanded to other applications such as cucumber, apples, citruses and mango.

The company has made headlines in the past for raising record-level funding for the segment with a?$250M Series D?in May 2020 and another?$250M Series E in August 2021.?Record-funding can be understood when considering the company great market success, with partnerships with US retailer?Kroger?and major European produce importers?Orsero Group?and?Nature’s Pride?to name a few.

Biochemicals?

Chinova bioworks?(#287 of the 2021 FoodTech 500)

This Canadian female-founded company has been active since 2016 and has recently garnered attention because of its proprietary fibre developed from the stems of white button mushroom called Chiber. This fibre helps improve the quality, freshness and shelf-life of juices and drinks in general while being a broad spectrum clean label solution.

Crucially, in its latest?Series A worth $6M, the company was once again backed by DSM Venturing, signalling strong corporate interest in this kind of clean label solution.

Chinova products applications

Protera

Protera is a company headquartered in France and founded in 2018. Their edge relies in a?streamlined protein design and development thanks to the proprietary deep learning algorithm MADI, to predict high-value protein products and enzymes. In this, the company has developed the first product called Protera Guard – a clean label, a thermostable natural protein that extends shelf life by offering an anti-mould effect without requiring acidic environments and without impacting organoleptic properties.

Unsurprisingly, the company has attracted interest from many players, including Grupo Bimbo, which led to a?$10 Series A to scale up the production of Protera Guard?and bring it to Latam and North America by 2023 and Europe by 2025

Protera Guard

Processing

Farther Farms

Probably a unique company for the technology it developed, the American Farther Farms uses pre-heated CO2 that is then pressurised into the packaging and by becoming a supercritical fluid it can penetrate the food, preserving it without cold-chain. So far the company only makes shelf-stable fries, but it made clear that it is in the plans to expand the product applications in the coming years.

While the company already sells its products in?selected foodservice establishments across New York, it is likely to penetrate developing countries in the future as the founder stressed in interviews?how much less it costs in India to transport foods that don’t require cold chain.

Farther Farms shelf-stable fries

Energy Pulse Systems

This Portuguese company was founded in 2011 and ever since has been researching, developing, producing and selling?pulsed power modulators in order to achieve electroporation?(an electrical field is applied to cells in order to increase the permeability of the cell membrane) and?therefore extend shelf-life while improving organoleptic properties.

An important aspect to consider of the company’s technology is that it can be utilised with virtually all foods, including fruit juices and even wine.

Packaging

Parx Materials

Parx Materials is a Dutch company founded in 2012 that has developed a technology called?Passive Action Polymer Technology?which, when applied to packaging, extends significantly the shelf-life of products. In fact, polymers infused with the physical anti-adhesive principle to keep surfaces free from microbes, viruses, biofilm, fouling, and moulds give the packaging improved mechanical/physical properties while not impacting its original characteristics.?The result is packaging that leverages physical properties to achieve high sanitation levels for various pathogens.

It is worth noting that only?3% addition of Parx Material?is needed to the traditional material in order to achieve the above characteristics. For this reason,?many European retailers such as Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and F&B conglomerate PepsiCo?already collaborate with the company.Aegis Packaging

The 2018-founded Singaporean has developed O?X?, a non-toxic water-based transparent liquid barrier coating that can be applied into plastics film and paper and that drastically improves the barrier properties of the packaging material without compromising on functionality or appearance. In fact, the barrier protects the products against intrinsic (food itself, nutrients, water activity, pH, redox potential) and extrinsic factors (atmospheric gases, temperature, other microbial flora, relative humidity) by preventing oxygen and water vapour from entering the packaging.

Aegis packaging applications

How does the industry reacts and what the future has in store

All the various technologies highlighted by the examples proposed show that new approaches for preserving food are already here. However, as?consumers demand longer-lasting foods that taste better, we can delineate two main angles which will shape the future of this segment in the short term, while having long-term implications due to the adoption of big food companies.

Clean label ingredients become a must to acquire new consumers

We do believe it is likely that?clean label ingredients enabling longer food preservation will become a leading tool for food manufacturers to acquire new consumers.?

As a matter of facts, many ingredients manufacturers already have a range of clean label products for multiple uses (such as?IFF?and?Ingredion) with some others like?Kerry?developing them specifically for the shelf-life extension. Moreover, according to a study from Ingredient Communications,?73% of consumers?are happy to pay a higher retail price for food or drink products made with ingredients they recognize and trust.

Novel packaging solutions for extended shelf-life will be the first mass-adopted technology in this space

Based on the technology revolving around packaging and food preservation, it is likely to expect this to become the first widely adopted approach. Indeed, the relative easiness of implementation of packaging innovations might facilitate adoption by food manufacturers and packers. It comes as no surprise that the market for antibacterial plastic was estimated to reach?$80.1B by 2028.?In this, the sustainability aspect will have to be clearly stated by companies. According to a recent report from Deloitte,??89% of consumers in the US?actively consider sustainability aspects when buying fresh food.

What challenges still stand?

Despite positive signals from key food ingredient providers and startups operating in this space, challenges remain. In particular, biocoating solutions, which would have the potential to be the most sustainable approach to extending shelf-life, will have a hard time becoming the norm in this segment. In spite of the signals from Europe regarding the authorization of edible coatings within the Union for?Apeel?and?Akorn, there are in fact less?than 15 companies making biocoatings for food preservation?(therefore denoting a small offer available). Moreover, with?95% of consumers in the US?actively avoiding chemicals/preservatives in their food?according to a study from Deloitte, it is likely to expect that this technology may be mistaken and therefore avoided by consumers.

We are probably at the golden age of food preservation technology, and despite obstacles to adoption, innovation isn’t likely to stop.?Who knows, maybe fridges will become obsolete in a decade?

Do you want to learn more about the food waste space, its challenges, and opportunities you can harness? Keep following our page to keep up to date with our latest posts, access our Food Data Navigator?HERE?to discover more about the companies analysed in this blog post, or get in touch?HERE?for a tailored consultancy.