For those of you trying to eat healthier, Bill Gates is now coating your favourite fruits and vegetables with a chemical product to make them last longer.
That’s right. Not only are our milk and dairy products now laden with “anti-fart” chemicals, but it appears our fruit and vegetables will be next.
A recent report from NBC confirms they are selling Avocados with Apeel coating:
The premise of the company is simple: to reduce food waste by extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. But the science to do it is complex.
Apeel uses plant-based materials like the peels of fruits and vegetables to create an invisible, natural coating. The coating is thin, invisible, doesn’t have a taste and has the FDA designation of “generally recognized as safe.” It starts off as a powder, which is mixed with water to create a solution into which fruits and vegetables are dipped. The resulting protective seal slows down the rate of water loss and the oxidation process, extending the shelf life of the treated fruits and vegetables by weeks and in some cases, doubling the shelf life.
“It means you’re throwing out less produce and it means higher quality produce in your refrigerator,” says Rogers. “We’re slowing down the rate the clock is ticking. And by doing that, you have more of an opportunity to enjoy the food in your home, and you’re going to be throwing away a lot less of it.”
Costco and grocery chain Harps Food Stores have begun selling avocados coated with Apeel’s products, which Rogers says doubles the amount of time they can stay on store shelves before spoiling. The move could give the retailers a leg up on the competitive grocery business by reducing supply costs. A recent study by reFed, an organization comprised of non-profit groups like the Rockefeller Foundation and big food companies like General Mills and Walmart, reports food waste costs U.S. retailers more than $18 billion dollars.
“There’s tremendous opportunities for cost savings in supply chain,” says Rogers. “Right now, we’re just interested in reducing shrink on the shelves, and by doing that, we can dramatically improve sales in different produce categories.”
Rogers says they are talking to other big retailers as well, but can’t name names. While some argue it might be tough to win over customers who might be wary of a coating – albeit tasteless – on their produce, Rogers challenges customers to take a bite out of Apeel’s fruits and vegetables.
The report has already been fact checked by AP, which likely means it’s true:
CLAIM: A safety data sheet for Apeel Sciences, a company that makes a protective coating used to keep fruits and vegetables fresh, shows that its product can cause eye damage and allergic skin reactions.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The safety document being cited is for an unrelated cleaning product that uses the same name. That product is made by a different, U.K.-based company.
THE FACTS: California-based Apeel Sciences markets that its plant-based solution can keep fruits and vegetables fresh and at their prime longer — and that it’s edible, too.
But social media posts are distorting the safety of that product, known as Edipeel, by conflating it with an unrelated cleaning product that shares a name with Apeel.
“If you see the Apeel logo on any fruit and veg do not buy it, this is a Bill Gates and WEF company, this chemical makes things last 3x longer and cannot be washed off, in US and Canada at the moment,” a tweet reads.
The tweet includes a screenshot of a safety data sheet for a product called “Apeel.” The document includes “Hazard statements” that include: “Causes serious eye damage,” “May cause an allergic skin reaction” and “Harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects.”
The document being cited, however, is not for Apeel’s Edipeel. It was uploaded online by Evans Vanodine, a U.K. company that manufactures a product called “Apeel” that is a hard surface cleaner. That company’s logo and name appear on the safety data sheet as well.
Apeel Sciences representatives emphasized that their produce-protecting product is not related to the cleaner and that it is safe to consume.
The company uses plant lipids or plant oils naturally found in fruits and vegetables and creates a coating applied “to the surface of fresh fruits and vegetables in order to retain moisture and reduce oxidation,” said Jenny Du, co-founder of Apeel and senior vice president of operations. “Our product is also intended to be edible.”
The coating consists of purified monoglycerides and diglycerides, which Du pointed out are also found in products such as infant formula; the compounds are designated by the Food and Drug Administration as a “generally recognized as safe”, or GRAS, food additive. In the U.S., Apeel’s coating is used on products such as avocados and apples.
Apeel’s website offers product safety information sheets.
Confusion with the unrelated cleaning product hasn’t been an issue until the most recent bout of misrepresentations online, Du said. She pointed out that there is also an Australian company that manufactures an odor-neutralizer sold as “APEEL” that could be stirring further confusion.
“The unfortunate thing is of course you can have different companies with similar names, trademarked as such, when they are very different industrial classes,” said Du, who holds a Ph. D. in chemistry.
A quick check on Wikipedia shows it is a Bill Gates funded company:
That’s right, without our permission, Gates has decided we need a “protective cover” over our fruit
It appears Gates thinks that the “peel” that God created is not good enough fo humans.
Here’s what they say from their website:
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